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DEPARTMENT   OF   THE    INTERIOR, 
CENSUS    OFFICE. 


FRA-NCIS   A..    "WALKER,  Superintendent, 
Appointed  April  1,  1879 ;  resigned  November  3,  1881. 


CHAS.    "W.    SEAXON,  Superintendent, 

Appointed  November  4, 1881. 


REPORT 


ON   THE 


MANUFACTUEE   OF   GLASS. 


BY 


cros.  ID. 

SPECIAL    AGENT. 


WASHINGTON: 
GOVERNMENT     PRINTING     OFFICE. 

1884. 


AGiiC.  DEPT. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL ii 

CHAPTER  I. 

STATISTICS -- 1-18 

Scope  of  the  report 1 

Classification  of  glass  in  the  tables 1 

Summary  of  statistics  for  1880 1 

Comparison  with  previous  censuses •. 2 

Works  idle  in  the  census  year 2 

Works  building  in  the  census  year 3 

Establishments  in  which  glass  was  made  in  the  census  year 3 

Capital ... 3 

Furnaces - - 3 

The  plant  of  factories 4 

Employe's 5 

Wages  paid , 6 

Intervals  of  payment 8 

Methods  of  payment 8 

Product 9 

Materials 9 

Relative  productive  rank  of  the  states " 9 

Production  of  plate-glass 10 

Production  of  window-glass 10 

Production  of  glassware 10 

Production  of  green  glass 11 

Localities  in  which  glass  was  produced 11 

Table        I.— The  plate-glass  works  of  the  United  States  at  the  census  of  1880 11 

Table       II. — The  window-glass  works  of  the  United  States  at  the  census  of  1880 12 

Table     III. — The  glassware  works  of  the  United  States  at  the  census  of  1880. -. 12 

Table     IV. — The  green-glass  works  of  the  United  States  at  the  census  of  1880 12 

Table       V. — Glass  works  idle  and  building  in  the  United  States  at  the  census  of  1880 13 

Table     VI. — Consolidated  statistics  of  all  the  glass  works  of  the  United  States  at  the  census  of  1880,  by  states lo 

Table   VII. — Consolidated  statistics  of  all  the  glass  works  of  the  United  States  at  the  census  of  1880,  by  states  and  counties.  15-1? 

Table  VIII. — Consolidated  statistics  of  the  materials  used  iu  the  manufacture  of  glass,  as  reported  at  the  census  of  1880  ...  18 

CHAPTER  n. 

QL4S8:   ITS   COMPOSITION,  CLASSIFICATION,  AND  PROPERTIES 19-23 

Difficulty  of  definition 19 

Glass,  chemical  and  commercial 19 

Chief  constituents  19 

Variability  of  composition 19 

Approximate  composition 19 

Difficulty  of  classification  chemically 19 

Difficulty  of  classification  commercially 20 

•  Classification _ 20 

1.  Plate-glass 20 

2.  Window-glass 20 

3.  Flint  glass 20 

4.  Green  glass 21 

Specific  gravity 21 

Conductivity  and  tension 21 

Tensile  and  crushing  strength 21 

Devitrification 22 

Devitrification  in  its  relation  to  manipulation - .' 22 

Other  properties 22 

Extent  of  the  uses  of  glass 22 

Analysis  of  glass . 22,23 

1031 


iv  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  III. 

Page. 

SAND 24-30 

Different  proportions  of  silica  in  glass 24 

Silica  in  different  kinds  of  glass 24 

Hardness 24 

Forms  of  silica  used 24 

Uses  of  the  different  grades 24 

Impurities  and  their  removal  24 

Use  of  arsenic 25 

Tests  of  sand 25 

Analysis  and  color  not  always  indicative  of  the  quality  of  sand 25 

Mode  of  occurrence  of  sand 25 

Sea  or  river  sand 25 

Importance  of  good  sand 25 

Sand  from  the  river  Bolus 25 

Other  river  and  soa  sands 26 

Early  use  of  flkit  and  quartz 26 

Superiority  of  American  sand 26 

English  sand 26 

Sand  for  English  plate-,  window-,  and  flint-glass 27 

Sand  for  bottle-glass 27 

. .   French  sand 27 

Belgian  sand - 27 

German  sand .' 27 

Best  German  sands 27 

Use  of  alkaline  rocks  for  bottlo-glass 28 

Austrian  sand 28 

Sand  for  common  Austrian  glass 28 

Swedish  sand 28 

Quality  of  American  sand 28 

New  England  sand 29 

New  Jersey  sand 29 

Maryland  sand 29 

Sand  for  the  Pittsburgh  and  Wheeling  glass  houses 29 

Illinois  sand 29 

Missouri  sand : 29 

Extent  and  locality  of  other  American  sands 29 

Analysis  of  glass  sand 29,30 

CHAPTER  IV. 

ALKALIES  AND  OTHER  MATERIALS 30-34 

Chief  bases  used  in  glass-making 30 

Ancient  glass  a  soda  glass  and  perishable v 30 

Sources  of  supply  of  soda  for  ancient  glass  houses 30 

Modern  soirees  of  soda 31 

Loblanc's  discovery  of  soda-ash 31 

Use  of  salt-cake 31 

Source  of  supply  of  soda 31 

The  ammonia  process 31 

Manufacture  of  soda-ash  and  salt-cake  in  the  United  States 32 

Use  of  common  salt 32 

Nitrate  of  soda 32 

Potash 32 

Lime 32 

Use  of  lime  a  modern  discovery , 32 

Sources  of  supply 33 

Lead 33 

Lead  glass,  where  made .". ,. 33 

Other  ingredients 33 

CHAPTER  V. 

GLASS  FURNACKS  AND  POTS , 34-41 

Early  furnaces  and  glass  houses 34 

Furnaces  in  Agricola's  time 34 

Modern  furnaces 35 

Fuel  used 36 

Gas  furnaces 36 

The  Siemens'  furnace 36 

Use  of  Siemens' furnaces  in  the  United  States 'H 

1032 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

GLASS  FURNACES  AND  POTS — Continued. 

Compartment  or  tank  furnaces -- 

Pot-clay 

Composition  of  pot-clay 

Manufacture  of  pots - - 

The  setting  of  the  pots - 41 

Life  of  pots 41 

Size  of  pots - - - 41 

Shape  of  pots 41 

CHAPTEE  VI. 

MIXING,  MELTING,  FINING,  AND  FAULTS 41-45 

Influences  that  determine  the  character  of  glass 41 

Constituents  of  the  batch • --- 

Proportion  of  materials  nsed  for  plate-glass 42 

Proportion  of  materials  nsed  in  window-glass - 42 

Proportion  of  materials  nsed  for  flint  (lead)  glass 42 

Proportion  of  materials  nsed  for  flint  (lime)  glass 42 

Proportion  of  materials  nsed  for  bottle-glass 43 

Mixing  the  batch — - --•  43 

Fritting 43 

Charging - - — «- - - 43 

Melting 43 

Fusion  and  fining - -- 43 

Time  required  to  melt  and  fine .- - - 44 

Cold  stoking - 44 

Loss  in  melting .. - - 44 

Faults  in  the  metal - - ---  44 

CHAPTER  vn. 

GLASS-WORKING -- ---• —      45-55 

Methods  of  glass-working - 

Plate-glass 45 

Casting  and  annealing — - 45 

Rough  plate - 

Grinding,  smoothing,  and  polishing 

Rolled  plate 46 

Optical  glass 

Strass - 46 

Pressed  glass 47 

Improvements  in  the  pressing  process — 

Mold-marks 

Molding  articles  with  lateral  designs - - 47 

Molding  curved  hollow  articles,  lamps,  goblets,  and  taper  articles 

Molding  months,  necks,  etc .- - 

Handles - 

Lamp  bodies  with  feet  sad  screw  coupling 

Lamps  with  metallic  pegs  or  collars - 

Insulators 48 

Balls - 

Movable-bottom  molds — - - 48 

Battery  jars - 48 

Molds  for  flaring  articles 49. 

Molding  articles  with  bulging  bodies - 

Molding  articles  with  openings - - - 49 

Spring  snaps  for  lire-polishing — .---  49 

Cooling  heated  molds  by  air-blast - 49 

Application  of  steam  to  glass-pressing 49 

Application  of  compressed  air 49 

Inclosed  air- bubbles • - - - 50 

Blowing 50 

Window-glass - 50 

Flattening 50 

Defects  of  window-glass 50 

Size  of  window-glass 51 

Blown  and  patent  plate 51 

Blowing  flint  ware - 51 

Flint-glass  cutting,  engraving,  and  etching — 

Blowing  in  molds - 51 

1033 


vi  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

GLASS-WORKING— Continued. 

Fashioning  art-glass  . — 52 

The  Portland  vase 52 

Tempered,  hardened,  or  toughened  glass 52 

Bastie's  tempered  glass 53 

Difficulties  of  the  process.... 53 

Siemens'  tempered  glass —  53 

Tests  of  the  Siemens' glass 54 

Uses  of  Siemens'  glass 54 

Cost  of  Siemens'  glass 54 

Glass  from  blast-furnace  slag 54 

Relative  composition  of  glass  and  slag,.... 54 

Additions  to  slag  in  the  manufacture  of  glass 55 

Use  of  hot  slag 55 

Color  of  slag  glass 55 

CHAPTER  VHI. 

HISTORY  OF  SOME  PROCESSES  OF  GLASS-MAKING 56-66 

Vases,  cups,  and  other  hollow  ware - 5T 

Lead  glass 57 

The  use  of  molds...... 57 

Pressed  glass 58 

Ancient  pressed  glass . .......  58 

History  of  the  invention 58 

CHAPTER  IX. 

ANCIENT  GLASS 59-64 

Discovery  of  glass.... .....  59 

Probable  method  of  discovery 59 

Egyptian  glass 59 

Processes  of  Egyptian  glass  houses  and  character  of  the  glass.... 60 

Composition  of  Egyptian  glass 60 

Phoenician  glass 60 

Character  of  Phoenician  glass  and  processes  employed 61 

Late  Phoenician  glass  manufacture '. 61 

Glass-making  in  the  other  ancient  monarchies 61 

Assyriam  glass 61 

Greek  glass 61 

Carthaginian  glass 61 

Etruscan  glass 61 

Introduction  of  glass-making  into  Rome 62 

Amount  and  variety  of  the  production  of  Roman  glass  houses 62 

Later  glass-making 62 

Byzantine  glass 62 

Early  glass-making  in  other  countries 63 

Glass  in  France 68 

Spain 63 

Germany 63 

British  islands 64 

Persia 64 

China 64 

India 64 

CHAPTER  X. 

MODERN  GLASS 64-69 

Modern  glass-making  dates  from  Venice 64 

Influence  of  barbarians  upon  glass-making 65 

Revival  of  art  influenced  glass-making 66 

Early  Venetian  glass-making 65 

Extent  of  the  industry  at  Venice 65 

Condition  and  restriction  of  workmen 65 

Glass  in  the  dark  ages .*. 66 

France 66 

Spain 66 

Germany 6"1 

Bohemia 6" 

The  Low  Countries 66 

British  islands 68 

Influence  of  Venice  on  England 63 

Russia 68 

1034 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS.  vii 

CHAPTER  XI. 

*•««. 

THE   PRESENT  CONDITION   OF   GLASS-MAKING  IN  EUROPE 69-77 

Chief  glass-making  countries  of  Europe 69 

Each  country  has  a  specialty - ...................  69 

England's  specialties — ........... — .... ...  69 

France's  specialties 69 

Belgium's  specialty 69 

Germany's  specialty 76 

Austria-Hungary's  specialties 70 

Venetian  glass 70 

Glass  in  other  European  countries 70 

Plate-glass  factories  in  Europe —  70 

Production  of  plate-glass 70 

PlaU-glass 71 

Prices  of  plate-glass  in  Europe 71 

Window-glass  in  Europe 71 

Flint-  and  bottle-glass 72 

Manufacture  of  glass  in  Great  Britain . ............  72 

Chief  localities 72 

Decline  of  the  English  glass  industry 72 

Imports  of  glass — 72 

Eiports  of  glass ..........  72 

Manufacture  of  glass  in  France 73 

Manufacture  of  glass  in  Belgium 73 

Manufacture  of  glass  in  Germany — .............  74 

Furnaces  and  fuel 74 

Manufacture  of  glass  in  Austria-Hungary 74 

Manufacture  of  glass  in  Italy 76 

Manufacture  of  glass  in  Russia 76 

Manufacture  of  glass  in  Sweden 76 

Manufacture  of  glass  in  Norway 77 

Manufacture  of  glass  in  Spain .....................  77 

Glass  in  Holland 77 

Glass  in  Portugal 77 

CHAPTER  XII. 

HISTORY  OF  GLASS-MAKING  LN  THE  UNITED  STATES •. 77-101 

Glass-making  in  Virginia  and  West  Virginia .  77 

Glass-making  in  Pennsylvania 79 

Glass-making  in  Massachusetts ................  88 

Glass-making  in  New  Hampshire 91 

Glass-making  in  New  York 93 

Glass-making  in  Connecticut 94 

Glass-making  in  Maryland 95 

Glass-making  in  New  Jersey 96 

Glass-making  in  Ohio 97 

Glass-making  in  Missouri 97 

Glass-making  in  other  states 97 

History  of  the  manufacture  of  plate-glass  in  the  United  States 98 

Imports  of  glass  into  the  United  States 99 

Table  showing  imports  of  glass  into  the  United  States  in  the  yean  1676  to  1880 100, 101 


t 


LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL. 


PITTSBURGH,  PA.,  March  21, 1883. 
Hon.  C.  W.  SEATON, 

Superintendent  of  Census. 

SIR  :  I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  herewith  my  final  report  on  the  manufacture  of  glass. 

Referring  to  my  preliminary  report,  published  in  Census  Bulletin  No.  118,  under  date  of  March  30,  1881,  I  beg 
so  say  that  further  investigation  disclosed  the  fact  that  the  returns  received  up  to  that  time  were  somewhat 
imperfect,  and  the  statistics  given  in  this  report  have  been  amended  in  accordance  with  the  later  returns 
received. 

Most  of  the  glass-makers  of  the  country  appreciated  the  importance  of  a  full  and  complete  report,  many  of 
them  not  only  forwarding  their  reports  promptly  and  with  full  details,  but  lending  me  every  assistance  in  their 
power  in  completing  the  history  of  glass  in  this  country,  which  is  herewith  attached. 

In  undertaking  the  collection  of  these  returns  it  was  discovered  that  no  directory  of  the  glass  works  of  the 
United  States  existed.  While  attempts  had  been  made  in  recent  years  to  prepare  such  a  directory,  they  had  been 
abandoned  by  those  undertaking  the  work,  and  it  was  believed  to  be  impossible  to  make  a  complete  directory. 
However,  with  the  assistance  of  some  gentlemen  well  informed  with  the  glass  industry,  such  a  directory,  though 
imperfect,  was  prepared.  Copies  were  sent  to  every  glass  works  in  the  United  States  and  to  every  one  who  was 
supposed  to  have  any  information  regarding  glass  works,  and  as  a  result  of  this  a  directory,  believed  to  be  correct 
at  its  date,  was  prepared.  Schedules  were  sent  out  to  the  names  in  this  list,  and  the  result  is  the  present  report. 

This  report  covers  the  statistics  of  those  establishments  only  that  made  glass  from  the  sand,  or  works  having 
furnaces  and  pots  in  which  the  glass  was  melted  and  made  into  the  various  forms  of  plate-  and  window-glass, 
glassware,  and  green  glass.  It  does  not  include  the  statistics  of  any  staining,  cutting,  engraving,  drawing,  or 
spinning  glass,  or  any  of  the  other  processes  of  reworking  glass,  except  in  the  case  of  establishments  that  cut  and 
engrave  in  connection  with  the  manufacture  of  the  glass  from  the  sand.  In  a  word,  the  report  covers  the 
manufacture,  and  not  the  reworking,  of  gl 

In  addition  to  the  statistics  and  history  of  glass-making  in  this  country,  such  information  as  could  be  obtained 
regarding  the  statistics  of  this  industry  in  Europe  and  a  short  sketch  of  its  history,  both  ancient  and  modern,  are 
appended.  For  the  purpose  of  completeness  I  have  also  added  some  statements  regarding  the  classification  of 
glass,  its  properties,  the  materials  used,  furnaces  and  pots  employed,  and  the  various  modes  of  glass-making,  with 
some  quite  fall  statements  regarding  tempered  and  slag  glass. 

Particular  attention  has  also  been  paid  to  statements  showing  the  state  of  the  art  during  the  census  year. 
While  every  i>oiiit  has  not  been  covered — indeed  it  was  not  deemed  wise  to  consider  to  any  extent  forms  or  varieties 
of  glass  other  than  the  four  kinds  particularly  reported  upon — it  is  believed  that  the  report  will  show  with 
reasonable  fullness  the  condition  of  glass-making  at  the  close  of  the  census  year. 

It  seems  hardly  necessary  to  state  that  it  is  impossible  to  gather  from  the  tables  given  in  this  report  any 
.statement,  even  an  approximate  one,  of  the  amount  of  profit  made  by  the  manufacturers  of  glass  in  the  census 
year.  The  tables  show  only  the  value  of  materials  and  wages  and  the  cost  of  product.  Materials  and  wages  added 

1037 


LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL. 


together  and  subtracted  from  product  will  not  give  profit,  as,  in  addition  to  materials  and  wages,  there  is  iii  the 
cost  of  an  article  a  large  number  of  contingent  expenses,  such  as  rent,  insurance,  taxes,  interest,  discount,  expense 
of  selling,  office  expenses,  advertising,  traveling,  etc.,  all  of  which  must  be  added  to  the  value  of  materials  and 
wages  before  the  difference  between  this  sum  and  the  selling  price  of  the  product  will  show  the  profit. 

In  forwarding  this  report  I  desire  to  express  my  great  obligations  to  the  large  number  of  gentlemen  in  various 
parts  of  this  and  other  countries  who  have  so  kindly  assisted  me  in  the  preparation  of  this  report.  It  is  impossible 
to  name  them  all,  but  special  thanks  are  due  to  Mr.  L.  Lobmeyer,  of  Vienna,  Austria ;  Mr.  Julius  Fahdt,  of  Dresden, 
Germany ;  Mr.  Henry  Chance  and  Mr.  Thomas  Webb,  of  England ;  Hon.  John  F.  Bodine,  of  Williamstown,  New 
Jersey ;  Hon.  W.  0.  De  Pauw,  of  New  Albany,  Indiana ;  Mr.  J.  K.  Cummings,  of  Saint  Louis,  Missouri ;  Mr.  Charles 
Colne",  formerly  of  Washington,  District  of  Columbia,  who  reported  on  glass  for  the  Paris  Exposition ;  Mr.  Isaac  Craig 
and  Mr.  James  B.  Lyou,  of  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania;  and  very  especially  to  Mr.  Thomas  Gaffield,  of  Boston,  to  whose 
intelligent  assistance  and  ready  and  free  loan  of  books  this  report  is  indebted  for  much  of  its  exactness  and  fullness. 
I  also  have  made  free  use  of  a  number  of  works  on  glass.  In  important  quotations  credit  is  given  in  the  text,  but  in 
many  cases  it  has  not  been  deemed  necessary,  and  I  desire  to  acknowledge  here  my  indebtedness  to  the  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica,  Pellatt's  Curiosities  of  Glass  Making,  Nesbitt's  Glass,  Bontemp's  Guide  du  Verrier,  Lardner's  Cabinet 
Cyclopedia,  Jarves'  Reminiscences  of  Glass  Making,  Blancourt's  Art  of  Glass,  Sauzay's  Wonders  of  Glass  Making  in  All 
Ages,  the  several  pamphlets  of  Mr.  Chance  referred  to  in  the  text,  Gaffield's  Action  of  Sunlight  on  Glass,  and  Glass 
in  the  Old  World,  by  M.  A.  Wallace-Dunlop,  and  for  the  history,  in  this  country  especially,  to  Bishop's  History  of 
American  Manufactures.  I  should  also  fail  in  what  was  justly  their  due  did  I  not  acknowledge  my  indebtedness  to 
Miss  C.  V.  Young  and  Mr.  S.  C.  Armstrong,  the  chief  assistants  in  my  office,  to  whose  patient  endeavors  -rod 
constant  care  I  am  under  so  many  obligations. 

Very  respectfully, 

JOS.  D.  WEEKS, 

1088  Special  Agent. 


CHAPTER  I.— STATISTICS. 


SCOPE  OF  THE  REPORT. 

The  investigations  which  form  the  basis  of  this  report  were  confined  exclusively  to  those  works  which 
manufacture  glass  from  the  crude  material  or  make  the  "metal",  as  it  is  termed,  and  do  not  include  any  statistics 
of  those  establishments  in  which  manufactured  glass  is  a  raw  material ;  or,  in  other  words,  this  report  only  covers 
establishments  in  which  glass  is  made,  not  those  in  which  it  is  reworked,  and  does  not,  therefore,  include  statistics 
of  manufactories  of  painted  or  stained  glass,  mirrors,  chemists'  ware,  etc.  In  cases,  however,  where  the  glass  is 
reworked  in  the  same  establishment  in  which  it  is  made,  as  where  rough  plate  is  polished  or  glassware  is  engraved 
or  decorated,  the  tables  include  the  statistics  of  such  reworking,  it  being  regarded  as  only  a  part  of  the  manufacture 
of  glass  in  these  works,  or  as  having  such  a  close  relation  with  its  manufacture  as  to  make  it  practically  impossible 
to  separate  the  statistics  of  the  crude  from  the  reworked  glass. 

CLASSIFICATION  OF  GLASS  IN  THE  TABLES. 

The  classification  adopted  in  the  collection  of  the  statistics  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  a  complete  classification  of 
glass,  but  as  one  made  necessary  by  the  conditions  of  its  manufacture  in  this  country.  This  classification  is  as 
follows : 

I.  Plate-glass  factories,  including  those  making  rough,  ribbed,  or  polished  plate  for  window-glass,  mirrors, 
skylights,  partitions,  etc.    This  class  also  includes  rolled  cathedral  plate. 

II.  Window-glass  factories,  including  those  manufacturing  cylinder  or  sheet  window-glass. 

III.  Glassware  factories,  including  those  manufacturing  flint  (lead  or  lime)  glass,  both  blown  and  pressed,  lamp- 
chimneys,  and  flint  druggists'  and  chemists'  ware. 

IV.  Green-glass  factories,  including  those  producing  green,  black,  amber,  etc.,  bottles,  fruit-jars,  carboys, 
demijohns,  and  other  hollow  ware,  and  green  druggists'  ware. 

If  it  had  been  possible  to  make  a  still  farther  subdivision  of  these  classes,  it  would  have  been  done;  but  after 
very  earnest  efforts  it  was  found  impracticable,  and  the  attempt  was  abandoned. 

Under  each  of  these  classes  three  tabulations  have  been  made. 

A. — Including  all  establishments  in  existence  in  the  census  year,  whether  active,  idle,  or  building. 

B. — Including  all  furnaces  that  were  idle  during  the  entire  census  year.  All  the  furnaces  in  this  table  are 
included  in  Table  V.  The  amount  of  capital  given,  however,  is  only  that  of  factories  no  part  of  which  was  in 
operation  daring  the  census  year.  If  a  glass  works  having  two  furnaces  run  one,  the  other  being  idle,  the  latter 
would  appear  in  this  table  as  an  idle  furnace,  and  no  capital  would  be  set  against  it. 

C. — Including  all  furnaces  that  were  building  and  were  not  completed  during  the  census  year.  The  amount  of 
capital  given  in  this  table  is  that  of  such  establishments  as  are  entirely  new,  and  includes  no  statement  of  capital 
invested  in  such  new  furnaces  as  are  additions  to  old  works. 

SUMMARY  OF  STATISTICS  FOR  1880. 

The  complete  statistical  results  of  the  census  of  1880  will  be  found  in  the  accompanying  tables.  For  convenience 
of  reference,  and  to  give  a  connected  statement  of  the  results  of  the  present  census,  as  also  to  compare  the  same  as 
far  as  possible  with  those  of  previous  censuses,  these  results  have  been  summarized.  The  condensed  aggregate 
statements  for  all  classes  of  glass  included  in  this  report  are  as  follows : 

Tetal  number  of  establishments 211 

Total  capital  invested $19,844,699 

Total  number  of  furnaces 348 

Total  number  of  pots  in  same 2,982 

Males  above  16  years 17,778 

Females  above  15  years 741 

Children  and  youths 5,658 

24,177 

Total  amount  paid  in  wages  daring  the  year $9, 144,100 

Total  value  of  materials 8,028,621 

Total  value  of  product 21,154,571 

1039 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


COMPARISON  WITH  PEEVIOUS  CENSUSES. 

It  is  impossible  to  make  a  comparison  between  the  results  given  above  and  those  for  the  earlier  censuses. 
The  classification  differs  materially  from  that  adopted  in  the  present  investigation,  so  that  in  any  event  it  would 
be  impracticable  to  make  a  comparison  by  classes.  In  addition  to  this,  however,  in  the  statistics  of  glass  in  previous 
censuses  there  are  in  some  cases  gross  omissions,  (a)  while  in  others  the  statistics  of  glass-cutting  and  decorating 
establishments  are  summarized  with  those  making  the  metal,  so  that  any  comparison  would  be  of  but  little  value. 
It  is  possible,  however,  to  make  an  approximate  comparison  of  the  aggregate  of  all  classes  between  the  present 
'<sensus.and  that  of  1870.  Assuming  that  the  classes  "plate- glass",  "glassware  not  specified,"  and  "window- glass" 
of  the  Mnth  Census  include  the  same  establishments  as  are  classified  in  this  report  as  plate-  and  window-glass, 
glassware,  and  green-glass  factories,  the  result  is  as  follows : 


1880. 

1870, 

211 

154 

04  177 

15  367 

Capital 

$19  844  699 

$13  826  142 

9  144  100 

7  589  no 

8  028  621 

5  904  365 

21  154  571 

18  470  507 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  increase  in  the  number  of  establishments  in  ten  years  is  37  per  cent. ;  in  employe's,  57  per 
cent. ;  in  capital  invested,  44  per  cent. ;  in  wages  paid,  20  per  cent. ;  in  materials  used,  36  per  cent. ;  and  in  value  of 
product,  15  per  cent.  It  will  also  be  noted  that  the  percentage  of  increase  in  all  of  the  details  is  greater  than  in 
the  value  of  the  product,  that  being  hardly  15  per  cent.,  while  the  increase  in  the  others  ranges  from  20  to  57 
per  cent. 

WORKS  IDLE  IN  THE  CENSUS  YEAR. 

From  the  returns  received  it  appears  that  34  establishments  were  idle,  in  whole  or  in  part,  during  the  entire 
census  year.  The  capital  invested  in  the  works  that  were  idle  entirely  was  $591,000,  and  the  number  of  furnaces 
idle  was  41.  The  following  table  gives  the  statistics  of  these  idle  establishments  for  each  of  the  four  kinds  of  glass : 


Classes. 

No.  of 
establish- 
ments. 

Capital. 

FURKACES. 

Kind  and  number. 

Total 
number 
of  pots. 

Gas. 

Tank. 

Other 
kinds. 

Total 
number. 

1 

10 
15 
8 

•  1 
10 
19 

7 

1 

10 
22 

0 

8 

82 
201 
58 

$90,  000 
267,  000 
234,  000 

1 

Total 

34 

591,  000 

4 

37 

41 

349 

Some  of  the  establishments  shown  in  this  table  at  which  furnaces  were  idle  also  had  furnaces  that  were  in 
operation,  and,  as  is  before  remarked,  the  capital  of  only  those  establishments  at  which  no  glass  was  made  is  included. 

Of  the  58  window-glass  factories  of  the  country,  6,  with  6  furnaces,  containing  48  pots,  were  entirely  idle  during 
the  census  year.  Four  works  were  also  in  part  idle,  and  in  these  were  4  furnaces,  with  34  pots,  idle  the  entire  year. 

Of  the  91  glassware  factories,  9,  with  13  furnaces  and  109  pots,  were  entirely  idle  ;  and  in  factories  that  were 
operated  in  part,  9  furnaces,  with  92  pots,  were  riot  run  in  the  census  year. 

Of  the  56  green-glass  establishments,  8,  with  8  furnaces  and  58  pots,  were  entirely  idle. 

It  has  been  almost  impossible  to  determine  in  a  few  instances  whether  a  glass  factory  should  be  regarded  as 
dismantled  or  idle  with  the  prospect  of  renewing  operations.  In  such  cases  I  have  assumed  that  the  owner  knew 
the  facts  and  have  accepted  his  decision.  Notwithstanding  this,  some  furnaces  reported  as  idle  will  probably  never 
be  in  blast  again,  and  should  not  have  been  reported  at  all. 


a  Seybert,  in  his  Statistical  Annals  of  the  United  States,  Philadelphia,  1818,  which  summarizes  and  corrects  the  census  of  1810,  says, 
page  6,  regarding  the  statistics  of  glass,  that  "  returns  for  glass  works  for  five  states  only  are  given,  omitting  Massachusetts,  in  which  rery 
extensive  establishments  existed,  from  which  glass  of  a  superior  quality  had  long  been  exported  to  the  other  states". 
1040 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


WORKS  BUILDING  IN  THE  CENSUS  YEAR. 

The  following  table  gives  for  each  of  the  four  kinds  of  glass  the  statistics  of  furnaces  building  and  not  completed 
in  the  census  year: 


Classes. 

No.  of 
establish- 
ments. 

Capital. 

FURXACE8. 

Kind  and  number. 

Total 
number 
of  pots. 

Gas. 

Tank. 

Other 
kinds. 

Total 
number. 

1 
4 
12 
5 

1 

1 
4 

12 
5 

16 
38 
128 

31 

$80,000 
235,000 
54,100 

4 
8 
5 

4 

Total 

22                 369,100                 5 

17 

22 

212 

From  the  returns  received  it  appears  that  furnaces  were  building  at  22  establishments,  22  furnaces,  with  212 
pots,  being  in  course  of  erection.  As-  it  will  be  noticed,  5  of  these  were  gas  furnaces,  which  would  equal  a  little 
less  than  oae  fourth  of  all  the  gas  furnaces  built  or  building  in  the  census  year.  Of  those  building  of  all  kinds,  1, 
witli  10  pots,  was  building  in  a  plate- glass  works,  not  completed;  4  were  in  window-glass  factories;  2,  with  20  pots, 
were  iu  iievr  establishments,  and  2,  with  16  pots,  additions  to  old  factories ;  8,  with  8  furnaces  and  84  pots,  were 
entirely  new  glassware  establishments,  while  4  furnaces,  with  45  pots,  were  built  at  two  old  works.  Three  entirely 
new  green-glass  works,  with  3  furnaces  and  16  pots,  were  built,  and  2  furnaces,  with  15  pots,  were  built  at  two  old 
green-glass  factories. 

ESTABLISHMENTS  IN  WHICH  GLASS  WAS  MADE  IN  THE  CENSUS  YEAR. 

Consolidating  these  tables  of  idle  and  building,  and  making  the  necessary  deductions  from  those  giving  the 
aggregate  statistics  of  the  production  of  the  several  classes,  we  have  the  following  statement  regarding  the 
statistics  of  the  works  at  which  glass  was  made  during  the  census  year: 


Classes. 

No.  of 

establish- 
ments. 

Capital. 

No.  of 
furnaces. 

Total 
number 
of  pots. 

Plate-class... 

5 

$2,587  000 

g 

84 

Window-glass 

40 

4  703  155 

7 

665 

Glass^'ar*1 

73 

6  907  278 

10 

L247 

42 

4  607  166 

71 

443 

Total         

169 

18  804  599 

288 

2,439 

The  number  of  hands  employed  and  the  value  of  materials  and  wages  paid,  as  well  as  the  total  of  the  product, 
would,  of  course,  be  the  same  as  the  totals  given  under  the  heads  of  the  different  kinds  of  glass  in  the  general 
tables,  as  an  idle  or  building  works  would  detract  nothing  from  these  items. 

Regarding  the  table  on  plate-glass,  it  should  be  noted  that  of  the  6  establishments  making  plate-glass  5 
produced  rough  plate,  1  rolled  cathedral  plate;  and  3  of  the  5  producing  rough  plate  polished  the  larger  part  of 
their  product,  the  2  others  making  no  polished  plate,  though  1  had  the  machinery  necessary  to  the  work. 

The  column  headed  "rough,  sold",  under  "plate-glass",  gives  the  amount  that  was- sold  or  entered  into 
consumption  without  being  polished,  or  as  rough,  ribbed,  and  cathedral  plate.  It  should  also  be  noted  that 
while  the  first  column  under  "product"  gives  the  total  amount  of  plate-glass  cast  at  the  several  works,  the 
column  of  "value"'  gives  only  the  value  of  that  part  that  was  polished  and  what  was  sold  as  rough  plate,  the 
balance  being  in  process  of  manufacture. 

CAPITAL. 

The  total  capital  invested  in  the  manufacture  of.  all  kinds  of  glass  is  $19,844,699.  Of  this,  $2,587,000,  or  13 
per  cent.,  is  invested  in  plate-glass ;  $4,953,155,  or  25  per  cent.,  in  window-glass ;  $7,409,278,  or  37  per  cent.,  in 
glassware  ;  and  $4,895.266,  or  25  per  cent.,  in  green  glass. 

The  state  having  the  largest  amount  of  capital,  as  well  as  the  largest  number  of  establishments,  is  Pennsylvania, 
which  has  87,639,706,  or  38  per  cent,  of  the  whole.  This  is  followed  by  New  Jersey,  with  $2,728,021,  or  a  little  less 
than  14  per  cent,  of  the  whole.  New  Jersey  is  followed,  in  their  order,  rating  them  by  capital  invested,  by  New  York, 
Indiana,  Missouri,  Ohio,  Massachusetts,  Kentucky,  West  Virginia,  Illinois,  Maryland,  Connecticut,  California, 
Michigan,  and  New  Hampshire,  while  the  Mississippi  works,  which  was  building,  and  the  District  of  Columbia 
works,  which  was  idle,  both  ranked  the  same. 

FURNACES. 

The  total  number  of  furnaces  in  the  different  works  was  348,  containing  2.982  pots.     Of  these,  10  furnaces,  with 
116  pots,  were  in  plate-glass  works;  88  furnaces,  with  767  pots,  were  iu  window- .;lass  works;  162  furnaces,  with  1,559 
pots,  were  in  glassware  works;  and  88  furnaces,  with  540  pots,  in  green-glass  works.     Of  the  total  number  of 
66  M  M  1041 


4  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

furnaces,  21  are  reported  as  gas,  5  as  tank,  and  322  as  all  other  kinds,  these  other  kinds  being,  as  a  rule,  the 
ordinary  direct-firing  furnace.  Of  the  21  gas  furnaces  built  and  building,  3  are  reported  as  Siemens,  6  as  Gill,  6  as 
Nicholson,  2  as  Burgin,  the  balance  being  of  various  kinds.  Of  the  tank  furnaces,  1  was  a  Siemens  furnace,  built, 
and  the  other  4  were  of  various  kinds,  the  inventions  generally  of  the  parties  operating  them. 

The  fuel  used  in  glass-making  in  the  United  States  is  chiefly  coal,  though  at  all  works  more  or  less  wood  is 
used  for  various  purposes,  as  also  considerable  petroleum  and  benzine  for  fire-polishing,  annealing,  and  other  like 
operations.  One  or  two  furnaces,  however,  are  reported  as  being  wood  furnaces.  Some  are  coal  furnaces,  using 
blast,  and  some  few,  instead  of  being  direct-firing,  use  a  patent  method  of  charging  the  coal  to  the  fire-grate. 

THE  PLANT  OF  FACTOEIES. 

Under  this  head  are  included  statements  showing  that  part  of  the  plant  about  a  glass  works  not  included 
under  the  head  of  furnaces  and  pots.  The  following  tables  show  the  statistics  of  the  different  factories : 

TABLE  SHOWING  THE  PLANT  OF  PLATE-GLASS  FACTOEIES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Casting  tables 16 

Annealing  ovens 186 

Grinding-machines 26 

Smoothiug-machines - 44 

Polishing-machines 70 

Grinding-mills 10 

Steam-engines 25 

Horse-power 1,570 

Boilers 24 

Horses 11 

Mules 9 

Wagons 11 

Carts 7 

Drays 5 

TABLE  SHOWING  THE  PLANT  OF  WINDOW-GLASS  FACTORIES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Flattening  ovens 66 

Monkey  ovens 16 

Clay-grinding  mills 52 

Steam-engines 34 

Horse-power 577 

Boilers 35 

Horses 156 

Mules 56 

Wagons 120 

Carts .' 50 

Drays 21 

TABLE  SHOWING  THE  PLANT  OF  GLASSWARE  FACTORIES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Glory -holes 353 

Presses 522 

Annealing  ovens 479 

Shops  worked 1,353 

Grinding-  and  engraving-machines 716 

Clay-grinding  mills 63 

Steam-engines 85 

Horse-power 2,327 

Boilers 121 

Horses , 162 

Mules 64 

Wagons 124 

Carts GC 

Drays 29 

TABLE  SHOWING  THE  PLANT  OF  GREEN-GLASS  FACTORIES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Glory-holes 79 

Annealing  ovens 1,039 

Grinding-machines 44 

Clay -grinding  mills 46 

Steum-engines 55 

Horse-power •. 1, 199 

Boilers 58 

Horses 189 

Mules 102 

Wagous 152 

Carts 64 

Drays 30 

1042 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  5 

TABLE  SHOWING  KINDS  AND  NUMBER  OF  MACHINES  USED  IN  THE  GLASS  WORKS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Kind  of  glass. 


Casting    '•  Grinding-    Smoothing-   Polishing-    Grinding- 
tablea.        machines,     machines,     machines.  I      mills. 


Clay-grind- 
ing mills. 


Grinding- and 
engraving-      Presses, 
machines. 


Grin  ding- 
mac  tunes. 


Plate-glass 16  26    I  44  70  10 

Window-glass 52 

Glassware j3 

•Greenglass 45 

Total 16  26  44  70  10  161  716  522  ~  44 

TABLE  SHOWING  KINDS  AND  NUMBER  OF  OVENS  USED  IN  THE  GLASS  WORKS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Kinds  of  glass  Flattening      Monkey      Annealing 

ovens.  ovens.  ovens. 

Plate-glass 186 

Window-glass 68  16     

Glassware 479 

Green  glass 1,039 

Total 68  16  1,704 

TABLE  SHOWING  POWER  USED  IN  THE  GLASS  WORKS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Kinds  of  glass.  engto£.        ~"™  Boaeri!- 

Plate-glass 25  1,570  24 

Window-glass 34  577  35 

Glassware 85  2,327  121 

Greenglass 55  1,198  58 

Total I  199  5,672    i  238 

TABLE  SHOWING   NUMBER  AND  KINDS  OF  DRAFT  ANIMALS  USED  IN  THE  GLASS  WORKS  OF  THE   UNITED    STATES. 

Kinds  of  glass.  I     Horses.          Moles. 

Plate-glass 11  9 

Window-glass 156  I  56 

Glassware 162  j  64 

Greenglass 189  j  102 

Total 518  231 

TABLE  SHOWING  NUMBER  AND  KIND  OF  VEHICLES  USED  IN  THE  GLASS  WORKS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Kinds  of  glass.  Wagons.         Carts.  Drays. 

Plate-glass 11  7  5 

Window-glass 120  50  21 

Glassware 124  66  29 

Greenglass 152  ;               64  30 

Total 407  187    |  85 


EMPLOYES. 

The  total  number  of  persons  employed  about  the  glass  works  of  the  United  States  in  the  census  year  was 
24,177.  Of  these  17,778  were  males  above  16  years,  741  females  above  15  years,  5,566  males  under  16  years  of  age, 
and  92  females  under  15  years  of  age.  Many  of  the  operations  about  a  glass  works,  especially  in  the  packing 
and  the  gathering  of  the  glass,  are  of  such  character  that  they  can  be  performed  by  women,  children,  and  youths. 
Tliis  is  especially  true  of  glassware,  and,  as  is  shown  by  the  tables,  513  of  the  741  females  above  15  years  and 
3,874  of  the  5,658  children  and  youths  are  employed  in  glassware  manufactories,  the  larger  proportion  of  the  balance 
being  employed  in  the  manufacture  of  green  glass,  in  which  many  of  the  operations  are  analogous  to  those  of 

glassware. 

1043 


6 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


WAGES  PAID. 

The  total  amount  of  wages  paid  during  the  year  to  all  classes  of  employes  in  the  works  was  $9.144,100.  As  I  hare 
already  stated  in  my  "  Report  on  Coke  ",  any  attempt  to  deduce  the  average  daily  earnings  of  each  person  employed 
from  the  figures  given  in  the  tables  annexed  would  not  only  be  useless,  but  the  result  obtained  would  convey  a 
decidedly  wrong  impression.  The  total  amount  of  wages  paid,  $9,144,100,  divided  by  the  total  number  of  hands 
employed,  24,177,  would  give  a  quotient  of  $378.  Though  such  a  quotient  is  often  regarded  as  the  average  yearly 
earnings  of  each  employe",  a  little  consideration  will  make  it  evident  that  it  does  not  represent  such  earnings;  that 
it  really  represents  nothing  but  the  result  of  the  division  of  one  number  by  another.  The  only  circumstances 
under  which  a  division  of  the  total  amount  of  wages  received  in  any  industry  by  the  total  number  of  men 
employed  in  that  industry  would  be  a  correct  statement  of  the  earnings  of  the  persons  so  employed  are  when  the 
same  number  of  men  were  employed  during  the  whole  year,  and  when,  if  the  works  were  idle  during  any  part  of 
that  year,  the  men  were  also  idle,  glass-making  being  their  only  occupation.  It  would  also  be  necessary  to  know, 
in  order  that  such  an  average  might  be  a  fair  one,  what  the  occasion  of  such  idleness  was — whether  it  was  the  fault 
of  the  manufacturer  or  of  the  men.  In  a  word,  the  only  way  in  which  it  would  be  possible  to  show  what  were  the 
yearly  earnings  of  each  man  at  the  glass  works  of  the  United  States  during  the  census  year  would  be  to  ascertain 
directly  from  the  books  what  each  man  received,  and  for  such  a  statement  there  are  no  data. 

A  somewhat  similar  difficulty  exists  in  any  attempt  to  arrive  at  the  average  wages  paid  in  the  different  classes 
of  labor  employed.  This  is  a  most  difficult  statement  to  make  under  any  circumstances  in  this  or  in  any  other 
industry.  It  is  very  easy  to  give  an  average  of  the  different  rates  of  wages  paid ;  but  to  get  at  the  real  average 
rates — that  is,  an  average  which  shall  consider  not  only  the  several  rates,  but  the  number  of  men  employed  at  each 
rate,  by  a  consideration  of  both  of  which  the  average  rate  can  only  be  reached — is  more  difficult. 

However,  an  endeavor  has  been  made  in  the  accompanying  tables  to  arrive,  as  nearly  as  may  be,  at  the  range  of 
wages  paid  the  different  classes  of  labor  and  the  average  wages;  and  if  it  is  distinctly  understood  that  this  is  only 
approximate,  and  does  not  claim  to  be  the  exact  average  wages  of  the  different  classes,  no  one  need  be  led  astray 
by  the  statement. 

These  tables  show  in  the  first  column  the  classes  of  employes,  in  the  second  column  the  number  of  each  class  for 
which  wages  are  given  in  the  returns,  in  the  third  column  the  range  of  wages,  or  the  highest  and  lowest  wages  paid 
the  members  of  this  class,  and  in  the  fourth  column  the  average  wages.  This  average  is  obtained  by  multiplying 
each  rate  of  wages  by  the  number  of  persons  employed  at  that  rate  and  dividing  the  sum  of  the  products  so 
obtained  by  the  number  of  men  employed,  so  that  the  average  represents  the  real  average  wages  of  the  different 
classes  as  returned : 

RANGE  AND  AVERAGE  RATES  OF  DAILY  WAGES  IN  THE  MANUFACTURE  OF  WINDOW-GLASS. 


Classes. 

Number. 

Range. 

Average. 

Classes. 

dumber. 

Range. 

Average. 

23 

$1  16    to    $6  00 

$3  90 

Cutters 

144 

$2  00    to    $4  50 

$3  J4 

Boss  blowers  

44 

2  67    to    12  00 

5  47 

Blowers  

424 

2  18    to    12  00 

5  30 

52 

1  15    to      5  68 

2  14 

Gatherers  or  tending-boys  : 

2 

50 

50 

18  years  and  upward  

424 

1  76    to      6  00 

2  79 

go 

1  00    to      2  50 

1  36 

Under  16  years  .. 

34 

30    to         39 

35 

251 

1  00    to      1  50 

1  18 

Master  teasers  

56 

2  11    to     5  00 

3  35 

°6 

75    to      1  75 

1  31 

~M  aRt^.r  teaser*'  helpers  

55 

1  17    to      2  50 

1  83 

13 

1  95> 

Teasers  

158 

1  00    to      2  36 

1  74 

5 

1  50    to      3  15 

1  83 

Lime  sifters  

34 

1  00    to      2  16f 

1  70   • 

5 

1  00    to      1  50 

1  23 

Mixers  

65 

1  00    to      3  00 

1  72 

5 

°  00    to      3  00 

2  40 

Batch  wheelers  or  flllers-in  ,  

55 

1  00    to      2  00 

1  75 

2 

1  1°J  to      9  00 

1  56 

Coal  wheelers  

46 

96    to      2  25 

1  63 

2 

1  00    to      1  46 

I  23 

Flatteners  

109 

2  50    to      5  77 

3  82 

6 

1  75    to      1  80 

1  78 

•Layers-out  

67 

77    to      2  25 

1  80 

2 

o  (iQ    to      2  50 

2  25 

Layers-in  

73 

77    to      2  33J 

1  61 

Clerks 

7 

1  88 

Leer  tenders  

71 

96    to      2  26 

1  64 

1 

0  00 

2  00 

Koller-boys  : 

4 

2  00 

2  00 

16  years  and  upward  

70 

38    to      1  50 

78 

1 

4  00 

4  00 

Under  16  years  

22 

75    to      1  00 

88 

2 

1  1°S 

1  121 

Pot  makers  

36 

1  54    to      5  00 

9  96 

2 

1  25 

1  95 

Clay  trampers  . 

89 

1  00    to      2  00 

1  25 

Boss  cutters  

22 

2  88    to      7  00 

4  21 

1 

5  00 

5  00 

1044 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

RANGE  AND  AVERAGE  RATES  OF  DAILY  WAGES  IN  THE  MANUFACTURE  OF  GREEN  GLASS. 


Classes. 

If  amber. 

Range. 

Average. 

Classes. 

Number. 

Range. 

Average. 

21 

$2  00    to  $6  73 

$4  74 

32 

$1  25    to  $7  25 

$3  33 

21 

3  00    to    8  00 

4  86 

Fillers-iii 

61 

1  00    to    2  00 

1  51 

515 

2  65    to    5  50 

3  94 

30 

1  00    to    2  25 

1  46 

163 

2  50    to    4  50 

3  38 

26 

•1  00    to    2  00 

1  36 

10 

2  90    to    5  00 

3  78 

Teasers 

66 

1  00    to    4  17 

3 

3  30    to  10  00 

5  53 

45 

1  00    to    2  50 

32 

3  00    to    3  25 

3  °3 

10 

50    to    2  00 

1  29 

62 

58J  to    2  00 

1  27 

326 

54    to    1  50 

97 

16 

1  50    to    4  00 

2  61 

17 

75 

75 

26 

1  00    to    2  00 

1  36 

41 

1  00     to     1  50 

121 

32    to    1  25 

42 

29 

38    to       88 

51 

35 

83|  to    5  00 

1  30 

3 

60 

60 

63 

45    to    4  50 

2  73 

22 

1  16f  to    3  50 

2  02 

4 

50 

50 

31 

75    to    2  00 

1  06 

182 

38    to       73 

59 

10 

1  00 

301 

38    to       83 

54 

Packers 

119 

83$  to    2  25 

1    37 

Laying-up  boys  : 

150 

50    to    1  50 

96 

26 

50    to    1  00 

79 

RANGE  AND  AVERAGE  RATES  OF  DAILY  WAGES  IN  THE   MANUFACTURE  OF  PLATE-GLASS. 


13 

$2  00    to  $3  85 

$3  39 

MlTAfa 

13 

$1  25    to  $2  00 

*1   1A 

7 

1  25    to    2  00 

1  76 

| 

2  31    to    3  33 

2  94 

11 

1  15    to    2  50 

1  95 

4 

1  67    to    2  00 

1  84 

12 

1  15    to    1  80 

1  53 

Cutters            '    

16 

2  00    to    3  08 

2  54 

8 

1  15    to    1  83 

150 

12 

1  35    to    2  33 

1  78 

58 

1  15    to    1  83 

1  39 

23 

2  39 

Blacksmiths  

8 

1  73    to    4  00 

2  87 

55 

1  67    to    3  00 

2  18 

10 

1  25    to    1  80 

1  57 

6 

50 

50 

16 

1  25    to    3  00 

2  41 

13 

1  25    to    2  25 

1  91 

52 

2  00    to    2  29 

2  06 

9 

2  00    to    3  00 

2  54 

3 

50 

50 

1 

3  85 

3  85 

13 

75 

75 

13 

1  00    to    1  33 

1  14 

4 

50 

50 

10 

1  50 

1  50 

Mill  men  

4 

1  67    to    1  75 

1  71 

65 

2  00    to    3  13 

2  49 

5 

1  CO    to    1  50 

1  31 

6 

50 

50 

RANGE  AND  AVERAGE  RATES  OF  DAILY  WAGES  IN  THE  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASSWARE. 


52 

$3  00    to   $8  11 

$4  46 

I    Cutters  : 

306 

2  00    to     5  00 

3  53 

223 

$1  35   to   $4  16$ 

•o  29 

Finishers  : 

563 

76    to     6  00 

3  55 

Females  15  years  and  upward  

7 
33 

50 
1  66}  to     4  00 

50 

2  58 

134 

76    to         80 

79 

120 

1  50    to     6  00 

3M 

Machinists  * 

30 

1  50    to     6  50 

2  30 

890 

67    to     3  50 

1  93 

135 

1  33^  to     2  66} 

1  76 

6 

55    to     1  50 

1  3t 

166 

1  50    to     2  66} 

2  11 

Pot  fillers  

56 

1  00   to     2  50 

1  67 

338 

42    to     1  88 

87 

41 

1  16}  to     3  334 

2  35 

543 

4°    to     1  00 

78 

74 

1  00    to     2  50 

43 

Cleaning-off  boys  : 

192 

50    to     1  35 

82 

Packers  : 

340 

60    to     4  00 

1  72 

414 

50    to      1  00 

64 

19 

45   to         65 

53 

3 

80 

19 

50    to     2  33J 

98 

12 

50    to         6°} 

58 

103 

iUO 

1  00    to     2  50 

1  72 

t'air_ving-in  boys: 

156 

48    to      1  20 

62 

Laborers  : 

573 

1  00    to     2  00 

1  35 

762 

33J  to         80 

56 

67    to         83 

69 

Mnld-holders: 

132 

50    to      °  75 

S3 

Females  15  years  and  upward  

82 
9 

60    to         75 
50    to         67 

67 
61 

285 

45    to      1  00 

6° 

54 

1  16}  to     3  00 

2  15 

1  147 

1  66}  to     5  00 

3  47 

*  The  machinist  receiving  highest  rate  is  probably  a  mold  maker. 


1045 


8 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


INTERVALS  OF  PAYMENT. 

In  the  annexed  table  will  be  found  a  statement  showing  the  intervals  of  payment  at  the  different  glass  works 
in  the  United  States  so  far  as  returns  have  been  received.  In  connection  with  each  interval  of  payment  is  also 
given  the  number  of  employe's  so  paid  : 


Kind  of  glass. 

WEEKLY. 

KVEKY  TWO  WEKK8. 

MONTHLY. 

ON  APPLICATION. 

NO  STATEMENT. 

Number  of 
works. 

Number  of 
employe's. 

Number  of 
works. 

Number  of 
employes. 

Number  of 
works. 

Number  of 
employe's. 

Number  of 
works. 

Number  of 
employe's. 

Number  of 
works.     • 

Number  of 
employe's. 

.         . 

2 
37 
47 
28 

513 
2,575 
7,023 
4,033 

4 
12 
1 
12 

443 
919 
130 
1,423 

2 
28 
4 



100 
5,419 
745 

3 

178 

4 
15 
10 

118 
68 

194 

2 

296 

Total               

114 

14,  144 

34 

6,264 

29 

2,915 

5 

474 

29 

380 

The  frequency  with  which  the  workmen  are  paid  is  a  matter  of  considerable  importance,  and  determines  in 
some  degree  the  value  of  wages.  When  workmen  are  paid  once  a  year,  as  they  were  at  one  time  in  New  England, 
being  allowed  to  take  goods  from  the  store  in  the  meantime  and  have  the  same  charged  to  their  account,  but 
being  compelled  to  pay  interest  on  any  cash  advanced,  it  is  evident  that  such  intervals  of  payment  would  not  make 
the  purchasing  power  of  their  wages  as  great  as  though  the  employe"  was  paid  weekly  or  every  two  weeks.  In 
some  of  the  occupations  about  a  glass  works  where  the  men  are  paid  by  the  piece,  as  in  window-glass  blowing, 
owing  to  the  peculiar  character  of  the  business  it  is  almost  impossible  to  ascertain  at  the  end  of  each  week  or  each 
two  weeks  what  amount  of  money  is  due  to  the  blower  or  flattener,  they  being  paid  in  accordance  with  the  quality 
of  the  glass  produced,  as  this  can  only  be  ascertained  when  the  glass  has  been  flattened  and  cut,  or  at  least  inspected. 
This  sometimes  takes  weeks,  especially  in  dull  seasons.  It  is  therefore  customary  in  these  works  to  advance  to 
men  what  is  termed  "  market  money",  equaling  a  certain  amount  a  week,  and  to  have  final  settlements  at  the  end 
of  the  "fire".  In  the  window-glass  report,  therefore,  it  will'be  understood  that  most  of  the  skilled  workmen,  such 
as  the  blowers,  gatherers,  cutters,  and  flatteners,  are  paid  weekly  or  every  two  weeks  on  account,  and  full 
settlements  are  had  at  the  end  of  the  "fire",  generally  in  June.  This  is  also  true  in  some  few  cases  in  glassware 
manufactories,  and  to  a  greater  extent  in  green-glass  factories. 

From  the  above  table  it  will  be  noticed  4  plate-glass  works,  employing  443  hands,  pay  monthly,  and  2, 
employing  513  hands,  pay  weekly.  In  window-glass,  37  works,  employing  2,575  hands,  pay  weekly ;  2,  employing  100 
hands,  every  two  weeks ;  12,  employing  919  hands,  pay  monthly ;  3,  employing  178  hands,  on  application;  and  from 
the  balance,  employing  118  hands,  no  statement  has  been  received.  In  glassware,  47  works,  employing,  7,023  hands, 
pay  weekly;  28,  employing  5,419  hands,  every  two  weeks;  and  1,  employing  130  hands,  every  month;  from  the 
balance,  employing  68  hands,  no  returns  have  been  received.  In  green  glass,  28  works,  employing  4,033  hands, 
pay  every  week;  4,  employing  745  hands,  every  two  weeks ;  12,  employing  1,423  hands,  every  month;  2,  employing 
296  hands,  on  application,  and  from  the  rest,  employing  194  hands,  no  returns  have  been  received.  It  will  thus  be 
seen  that  of  all  the  employes  in  glass  works  14,144  are  paid  weekly,  6,264  every  two  weeks,  2,915  monthly,  474 
on  application,  and  as  to  380  no  statement  has  been  received. 

METHODS  OF  PAYMENT. 

In  the  following  table  will  be  found  a  condensed  statement  showing  the  number  of  establishments  that  had 
stores  connected  with  them,  the  number  that  had  no  stores,  and  the  number  from  which  no  statement  has  been 
received : 


Kinds  of  glass. 

STOBBB. 

NO  STORES. 

NO  STATEMENT. 

Number  of 
works. 

Number  of 
employes. 

Number  of 
works. 

Number  of 
employes. 

Number  of 
works. 

Number  of 
employes. 

2 
12 
1 
12 

376 
1,  028 

900 
2,259 

4 

36 

76 
30 

580 
2,493 
11,  565 
3,896 

10 
14 
14 

369 
175 
536 

Total 

27 

4,563 

146 

18,534 

38 

1,080 

The  establishments  concerning  which  there  is  no  statement  are  generally  idle  works  or  works  that  are  building, 
which  will  account  for  the  small  number  of  employes  concerning  which  no  statement  has  been  obtained. 

It  should  not,  however,  be  inferred  from  this  table  that  at  the  works  having  stores  the  men  are  always 
obliged  to  deal  at  them.  Wnile  this  may  be  true  in  some  instances — to  what  extent,  however,  I  am  not  able  to 
say — in  other  cases  it  is  not  true,  as  it  is  entirely  optional  with  the  employs'  whether  he  trades  at  the  store  or  not. 
In  a  number  of  cases  the  store  is  only  kept  as  an  accommodation  to  the  men,  the  works  being  so  situated  that  this 
is  a  necessity.  The  returns  also  show  that  at  most  of  the  works  having  stores  a  considerable  portion  of  the  wages 
of  the  men  are  paid  in  cash. 

1046 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


While  all  the  above  is  true,  and  while  the  small  number  of  establishments  having  stores  is  exceedingly 
gratifying,  this  question  of  "  truck"  is  a  burning  one  between  employer  and  employed.  In  most  states  "store-pay" 
is  illegal,  and  the  existence  of  stores  in  many  cases  is  a  violation  or  an  evasion  of  the  law. 

PRODUCT. 

The  total  value  of  all  the  glass  produced  in  the  United  States  during  the  census  year  was  $21,154,571.  The 
following  table  shows  the  value  of  the  several  kinds  of  glass  produced  and  the  percentage  of  each  kind  to  the 
whole : 


Kinds  of  glass. 

Value  of  product. 

Percentage 
of  total  value. 

Plate-glass  ......     ,     

$888,305 

4.10 

5,  047,  313 

23.86 

Glassware  

9,568,520 

45.23 

5  670  433 

26.81 

Total      

21,  154,  571 

100.00 

MATEEIALS. 

The  total  value  of  all  materials  and  the  value  of  the  materials  used  in  each  kind  of  glass  is  shown  in  the 
following  tabulated  statement : 


Kinds  of  glass. 

Total  valoe  of 
materials. 

Percentage 
to  whole. 

All  kinds  

$8,028,121 

100.00 

438,457 

5.46 

Window-glass  --•  

1,  849,  530 

23.04 

3  292,380 

41.01 

2,448,254 

30.49 

In  Table  VIII  of  this  report  are  given,  so  far  as  they  were  ascertained,  the  quantities  of  the  different  materials 
used  in  all  kinds  of  glass. 

EELATIVE  PRODUCTIVE  BAJfK  OF  THE  STATES. 

The  following  table  shows  the  relative  productive  rank  of  the  several  states  and  the  percentage  that  the 
production  of  each  bears  to  the  total  product: 


States. 

Percentage  of 
Valueofpro-   ;     pr^ac£n 
dnction.          0?ea<,h  state 
to  whole. 

States. 

Percentage  of 

v*£r-  0?3HL 

to  whole. 

The  United  States 

*21,  154,  571                   100.  00 

Indiana 

$790  781                          3.74 

;       ^Wf.       ^   Tr.        .      . 

8,  720,  584                     41.  22 

748,500                          3.54 
587  000                          •>  77 

2,  810,  170                     13.  28 

Kentuckv  

388,405                          1  84 

"New  York 

"  420  796                      1L44 

Connecticut  

160  000                          0  76 

Ohio 

1,549  320                        7.32 

California...  

140  000                            0  66 

919  827                      4.35 

Michigan  

90  000                            0.43 

901,  343                      4.  26 

70  000                            0  33 

854,345                      4.04 

Iowa  

3  500                          0  0*' 

It  will  be  noted  that  Pennsylvania  stands  first  as  a  producer  of  glass  in  the  United  States,  its  percentage 
in  value  being  more  than  three  times  that  of  any  other  state.  About  65  per  cent,  of  this  amount  is  credited  to 
Allegheny  county.  The  pre-eminence  of  Pennsylvania  as  a  glass-manufacturing  state  is  due  to  some  extent  to  its 
extensive  supplies  of  mineral  coal,  which  affords  very  cheap  fuel  to  the  glass  houses. 

The  following  tables  give  the  relative  productive  rank  of  the  several  states  in  the  manufacture  of  the  several 

kinds  of  glass : 

PLATE-GLASS. 


State. 

Value  of  pro- 
duction. 

Percentage  of 
value  of 
production 
of  each  state 
to  whole. 

The  United  States 

$868,305 

100  00 

49*.  400 

57  IT 

'.f*1  550 

37  15 

45  843 

5.28 

Kentucky                                  .            

3,512 

0  40 

1047 


10 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


WINDOW-GLASS. 


State. 

Value  of  pro- 
duction. 

Percentage  of 
value  of 
production 
of  each  state 
to  whole. 

The  United  States      

$5,  847,  313 

100  00 

2,  222,  513 

44.03 

729  155 

14  45 

New  York               

540  903 

10  72 

373  343 

7  40 

358  000 

7  09 

332  000 

6  58 

229  397 

4  54 

104  00° 

2  06 

90  000 

1  78 

68  000 

1  35 

GLASSWARE. 


The  United  States  

$9  568  590 

100  00 

4  881  312 

51  01 

New  York     

1  157  571 

12  10 

Ohio              

1  076  320 

11  25 

748  500 

7  82 

704  500 

7  36 

400  000 

4  18 

215  330 

2  25 

160  000 

1  67 

• 

136  487 

1  43 

85  000 

0  89 

3  500 

0  04 

GREEN  GLASS. 


The  United  States  

$5  670  433 

100  00 

1  681  015 

29  64 

1  616  759 

'8  51 

New  York       .         

722  322 

12  74 

528  000 

9  31 

392  790 

6  93 

170  000 

3  00 

169,  563 

2.99 

California           .  ..  

140,  000 

2.47 

Ohio           .                     

115,  000 

2.03 

70,  000 

1.23 

64,9»* 

1.15 

PRODUCTION  OF  PLATE-GLASS. 

As  stated,  the  total  value  of  the  plate-glass  produced  and  sold  in  the  census  year  was  $868,305;  the  total 
amount  cast  was  1,700,227  square  feet.  Of  this  amount,  1,042,000  square  feet,  valued  at  $794,000,  were  polished 
and  sold,  and  484,543  square  feet,  valued  at  $113,555,  were  either  sold  as  rough  plate-glass  or  were  in  the  process 
of  completion  at  the  works  on  the  31st  of  May.  The  balance,  J.73,684  square  feet,  represents  the  cast  plate  that  had 
been  destroyed  in  the  process  of  manufacture.  The  amount  of  plate-glass  sold  unpolished,  or  as  cathedral  plate, 
was  377,227  square  feet.  This  would  make  the  total  sold,  including  rough  plate  and  polished  plate,  1,419,227  square 
feet,  valued  at  $868,305.  From  the  returns  received  it  appears  that  the  value  per  square  foot  of  the  polished  plate- 
glass  sold  was  76£  cents. 

PRODUCTION  OF  WINDOW-GLASS. 

The  total  production  of  window-glass  in  the  United  States  was  1,864,734  boxes  of  50  square  feet,  valued  at 
$5,047,313,  or  an  average  of  $2  70|  per  box.  No  attempt  was  made  to  ascertain  the  number  of  square  feet  of  each 
size  sold,  nor  what  proportion  was  single  and  what  proportion  double  thick,  as  upon  inquiry  it  was  found  that  such 
an  attempt  would  be  useless. 

PRODUCTION  OF  GLASSWARE. 

An  attempt  was  made  to  arrive  at  the  total  number  of  pieces  of  certain  kinds  of  glassware  made ;  but  though 
returns  were  received  from  a  large  number  of  works  giving  the  number  of  tumblers,  goblets,  lamps,  lamp-chimneys, 
and  flint  bottles  or  "prescriptions",  they  were  by  no  means  complete.  Some  of  the  figures  received,  however,  were 

1048 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


11 


quite  suggestive.  In  Massachusetts,  for  example,  no  flint  bottles  or  "prescriptions"  were  made,  but  in  this  state 
46,415  dozen  tumblers,  111,712  dozen  lamp-chimneys,  and  14,087  lamps  were  made.  In  New  York  the  returns 
show  888,639  dozen  lamp-chimneys  and  75,301  lamps.  This  return,  however,  is  imperfect.  In  Ohio  the  reports 
show  409,713  dozen  tumblers,  743,140  dozen  lamp-chimneys,  and  19,426  lamps.  The  returns  from  Pennsylvania  in 
this  regard  are  very  imperfect.  So  far  as  returns  have  been  received,  the  make  of  tumblers  was  2,500,000  dozen, 
of  lamp-chimneys  2,719,649  dozen,  and  of  lamps  128,090  dozen. 

PRODUCTION  OP  GREEN  GLASS. 

The  same  lack  of  statement  of  detailed  production  as  obtains  in  flint  glass  also  exists  as  regards  green  glass. 
The  chief  productions,  however,  are  green  and  black  bottles,  beer-bottles,  fruit-jars,  demijohns,  carboys,  and  vials. 
In  New  Jersey  the  number  of  green  and  black  bottles  is  given  as  107,547  gross ;  of  fruit-jars,  51,749  gross,  and  of 
beer-bottles,  32,060  gross.  In  New  York,  49,882  gross  of  green  and  black  bottles,  28,752  gross  of  fruit-jars,  and 
12,049  gross  of  beer-bottles  are  reported  as  made.  In  Pennsylvania  the  reports  show  55,846  gross  of  green  and 
black  bottles,  67,770  gross  of  fruit-jars,  and  27,198  gross  of  beer-bottles. 

LOCALITIES  IN  WHICH  GLASS  WAS  PEODUCED. 

The  states  ranking  highest  in  the  production  of  glass  are  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  New  York,  and  Ohio, 
each  of  them  producing  glass  to  the  value  of  more  than  a  million  and  a  half  dollars  during  the  census  year.  The 
following  table  will  show  the  rank  of  those  counties  producing  more  than  $50,000  in  aggregate  product: 


Counties. 

States. 

Value  of  pro- 
ductiou  of 
comity. 

H 

Percentage  ' 
of  value  of 
prod  action  of                 Counties, 
county  to 
total  value. 

States. 

Value  of  pro- 
duction of 
county. 

Percentage 
of  value  of 
production  of 
county  to 
total  value. 

$5,668,212 
1,  621,  959 
1,318,081 
1,  132,  450 
947,805 
794,020 
714,000 
650,381 
597,277 
587,000 
523,343 
503,587 
447,530 
361,  315 
322,550 
309,102 
307,500 
285,000 
265,330 
257,000 
232,000 
200,000 
180,664 

20.79      Portage  '  Ohio   ._  .   

$168,298 
160,000 
149,  845 
149,735 
140,400 
140,000 
140,000 
127,182 
125.000 
123,075 
120,000 
116,940 
102,511 
93.000 
90,000 
80,000 
72.000 
72,000 
70,000 
70,000 
60.000 
55,000 
54,000 

0.80 
0.78 
0.71 
0.71 
0.88 
0.66 
0.66 
0.60 
0.59 
«-  58 
0.57 
0.55 
048 
0.44 
(i  43 
0.38 
0.34 
0.34 
0.33 
0.33 
0.28 
0.26 
0.26 

Philadelphia 

do 

7.67      Middlesex    

Kings  

New  York  

6.24      Berkshire  \faM«^hnaAttji          

5.  35      Os  wego  

V«w  Vnrlr 

do          

4.48      Clark   Indiana                    

Ohio 

3  76      Oneida                                  New  York 

Ohio      

3.  38      San  Francisco  California    ._.     .   

Vew  York 

Missouri 

2.82      Bristol 

Maryland 

2.  77      Jefferson  
2.47      Steuben  
2  33      Onondaffa 

Kentucky  —  . 
New  York  

An 

La  Salle 

Salem    

Fayette  

1.  71      Rock  Island 

Tllinnia 

Jefferson  

Missouri  
Ohio 

1  52       Wayne                                   Michigan 

Middlesex 

1.45      Suffolk               .     . 

Illinois 

1.35      Montgomery  
1.25      Hill3boron"h    

Pennsylvania  

Kenton  

"Wayne 

Kentucky  

L  22      Ulster     Vew  Vm-k           ._.     „_ 

Ohio     

1.10      Tompkins  

An 

Wayne  

New  York  

1 

TABLE  I.— THE  PLATE-GLASS  WORKS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  AT  THE  CENSUS  OF  1880. 


S 

KUMBEK  OF  FUIIXACES.       NUMBER  OF 

HAXDS   EMPLOYED. 

•  £1 

£ 
I 

PRODUCTS. 

| 

\ 

o 

-      s      L-     ^= 

^3   . 

"3 

States. 

I 

1 

i  ^ 

•5"£               "S 

,0 

3 

•S 

i 

I            -3 

9 

s  i 

'•-•    ~i    If      s§.-        s 

ei 

A 

1 

O 

'H. 

| 

j 

,* 

s 

=       55 

^ 

z—       ?—       ==        -r-l  = 

3 

= 

3 

~ 

3 

*       5 

1 

S 

1 

5        --          H 

£ 

i         P-  "      £ 

H 

H 

S 

o 

o 

I 

| 

1 

Square  feet. 

Square  feet. 

Sjt<ar«/«(. 

The  United  States        C     $2,587,000      10 

8       )16 

956 

822 

91         36          7 

$292,253 

$438,457 

•    1,700,227 

1,  042,  000 

377.227  ,  *$?63,305 

it 

1 

i 

"         1    14-'  IMK)          S 

5         64 

513 

419 

53         35 

G 

100  850        90S  733           07f>  nnn 

64*>  000 

l';0  000         496  400 

Kentucky                          1          '25»  000       2 

*         16 

35 

32 

1           i 

1 

1  008 

2  750              20  684 

20  684            3  512 

Massachusetts       .         °           *s  ofMi       2 

1 

1         20 

58 

57 

j 

10  395 

24  049            209  543 

209  543           45  843 

Missouri 

1         1,150,000          1 

1 

16 

350 

314 

36 

120,000 

112,  925            500,  000 

400,000 

17,  000         322,  550 

! 

*  This  docs  not  inolnde  the  value  of  c:iat  plnte  in  process  of  manufacture,  nor  of  ronsrh  plate  broken  up  and  used  as  cullet,  but  includes  only  the  value  of 
polished  plate  ;iutl  that  prut  of  the  roiijih  plate  IL:>:  \vaa  sol.'.. 

1040 


12 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


TABLE  II.— THE  WINDOW-GLASS  WORKS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  AT  THE  CENSUS  OF  1880. 


States. 

1 
•s 

i 

i 

'1 
O 

NUMBER  OF  FUKNACES. 

NUMBER  OF  HANDS  EMPLOYED. 

g1 

S.j? 

il 

r 

I** 

EH 

a 

0    . 

s<3 

—    CO 

I1 

s 

PRODUCTS. 

i 

<M 

g| 

•  3 
TO 

H 

I 

88 

* 

a> 

1 
H 

4 

1 

b 

88 

I 

7J 
§ 

S 

fr 

|£  . 
•ig 

I"" 

Females  above 
15  years. 

_  1  Males  16  years 
gg  1  and  under. 

Females  15  years 
and  under. 

S4B 
0 

£ 

it 
,!*  ' 

15 

The  United  States 

58 

$4,  953,  155 

767 

3,890 

3,755 

1 

2 

$2,  139,  536 

$1,  849,  530 

1,  864,  734 

$5,047,31? 

t 
1 
1 
4 
2 
1 
1 
9 
9 
6 
20 

235,000 
175,  000 
25,000 
305,  000 
75,000 
65,000 
40,  000 
723,  355 
575,  000 
455,  000 
2,  279,  800 

6 
3 

1 
5 
4 
1 
2 
15 
11 

•  e 

34 

6 
3 
1 
5 
4 
1 
2 
15 
11 
6 
34 

58 
30 
8 
42 
32 
8 
14 
116 
96 
56 
307 

225 
169 

222 
168 

3 

145,  703 
103,  000 

101,474 
105,  000 

115,  271 
91,  759 

373,313 
229,  f>«7 

222 
99 

48 
699 
410 
273 
1,691 

222 
98 
50 
48 
622 
409 
269 
1,646 

131,  454 
44,947 
30,000 
32,  000 
266,  294 
195,  576 
146,  861 
1,  043,  701 

147,  277 
39,245 
35,  113 
27,706 
289,  803 
224,  568 
106,  510 
772,  834 

141,  000 
41,  866 
30,  000 
24,000 
296,  685 
216,  748 
127,  122 
780,  283 

332  000 
104,  "02 
90,  COO 
68,  01  0 
729,  15(1 
540,  90? 
358,  OOf 
2,  222,  51?, 

1 

4 

"S  w  Jerse  * 

77 
1 
4 

Ohio 

43 

2 

*  Not  in  operation  during  the  census  year. 

TABLE  III.— THE  GLASSWARE  WORKS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  AT  THE  CENSUS  OF  1880. 


States. 

No.  of  establishments. 

i 
1 

o 

NUMBER  OF  FURNACES. 

i 

NUMBER  OF  HANDS  EMPLOYED. 

H 
** 

fl  H 

u 

—  tJCeS 
c3  <S  8 

P 

1 

<tH 

O 

Id 

C3  - 

| 

H 

i 
% 

00 

S| 

"3  " 
> 

H 

H 

i 

C5 

^ 
1 

Other  kinds. 

A 

£ 

1 

S 

o 

t»    . 

1 
r 

N 

Females  above 
15  years. 

Males  10  years 
and  uuder. 

Females  ISyears 
and  under. 

The  United  States 

91 

$7,  409,  278 

162 

17 

•    2 

143 

1,559 

12,  640. 

8,253 

513 

3,824 

50 

$4,452,417 

$3,  292,  3W> 

$9,  568,  520 

1 
1 
1 

2 
1 
2 
6 
2 
3 
14 
10 
44 
4 

130,000 
25,  000 
20,  000 
32,  000 
250,  000 
55,  000 
603,000 
100,000 
310,  000 
775,  600 
579,  750 
3,  978,  406 
550,  522 

1 
1 
2 
2 
2 
2 
15 
2 
10 
24 
18 
75 
8 

1 
1 
2 
1 
1 
2 
15 
2 
10 
24 
13 
65 
6 

10 
6 
16 
20 
22 
17 
143 
21 
89 
215 
191 
727 
82 

160 

130 

2 

28 

65,000 

70,  OCO 

160,  00( 

Illinois  * 

1 
1 

35 
209 
85 
789 
217 
900 
1,847 
1,225 
6,227 
946 

24 
106 
60 
673 
120 
525 
1,157 
781 
4,062 
615 

2 

10 

9 
92 
25 
60 
97 
350 
653 
363 
1,919 
228 

2,000 
105,  292 
22,000 
328,  000 
61,  339 
250,000 
591,  576 
452,  659 
2,  262,  901 
311,  650 

3,248 
60,  466 
26,  000 
266,  570 
43,  035 
100,  000 
426,  826 
309,  270 
1,  778,  901 
208,  064 

3,500 
215,  330 
85,000 
704,  50fr 
136,  487 
400,  000 
1,  157,  571 
1,  076,  320 
4,  881,  312 
748,  500 

1 

56 

25 
30 
81 
207 
100 

New  York         

7 

Ohio 

5 

8 
2 

2 

39 
3 

"West  Virginia                          

*  Not  in  operation  during  census  year. 

TABLE  IV.— THE  GREEN-GLASS  WORKS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  AT  THE  CENSUS  OF  1880. 


States. 

| 

1 
•s 

1 

I 

NUMBER  OF  FURNACES. 

NUMBER  OF  HANDS  EMPLOYED. 

Total  amount  paid  in 
wages  during  the 
year. 

1 
1 

o   . 

F 

1 

H 

i 

-3 
§1 

1 
1 

H 

1 

1 

Other  kinds. 

I 

I 

jl 

Females  above 
15  years. 

Males  16  years 
and  under. 

Females  15  years 
and  under. 

The  United  States 

56 

$4,  895,  266 

88 

2 

3 

83 

540 

6,691. 

4,948 

136 

1,574 

33 

$2,  259,  894 

$2,  448,  254 

$5,  670,  433 

California  .... 

1 
2 
1 
3 
2 
1 
1 
2 

15 
9 

4 
14 

75,000 
190,000 
125,000 
295,000 
76,000 
100,000 
25,000 
140,  000 
50,  000 
1,  694,  666 
583,  000 
1GO,  ICO 
1,  381,  500 

1 
4 
2 
3 
3 
1 
1 
4 
2 
31 
13 
5 
18 

1 
4 

2 
3 
3 

1 
1 

2 

30 
11 
5 
16 

7 
36 
14 
17 
17 

11 

8 

24 
8 
172 
62 
30 
134 

113 

507 
180 
278 
305 

80 

418 
107 
226 
242 

33 
97 
73 
52 
63 



45,924 
196,  324 
20,  357 
44,  022 
80,800 

48,  070 
196,368 
30,  000 
70,  SfS 
66,405 

140,  000 
528,  000 
64,984 
169,  563 
170,  000 

Illinois    

350 
102 
1,979 
821 
190 
1,866 

227 
80 
1,615 
550 
120 
1,291 

8 
21 
20 

87 

123 
14 
341 
245 
70 
463 

2 
6 

25 

167,  759 
25,600 
783,  744 
259,  660 
45,  000 
590,  704 

168,  205 
34,  000 
698,  543 
293,  297 
43,  553 
798,  925 

392,  790 
70,  000 
1,  681,  015 
722,  322 
115,  000 
1,  616,  709 

1 

1 
1 

New  York 

Ohio 

1 

1 

*  Not  in  operation  durinc  the  ceasus  year. 


t  Building. 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


13 


TABLE  V.— GLASS  WORKS  IDLE  AND  BUILDING  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  AT  THE  CENSUS  OF  1880. 

1.— FURNACES  THAT  MADE  NO  GLASS  IN  THE  CENSUS  TEAR. 


No.  of 

Classes.                            establish- 
ments. 

Capital 

FUBXACKS. 

Kind  and  number. 

Total 

number 
of  pots. 

Gas. 

T.^v          Other 
Tank-        kinds. 

Total 
number. 

Plate-glass                                 -      1 

1 
10 
19 

7 

1 
10 
22 
8 

8 
82 
201 

58 

$90,000 
287.000 
234,000 

3 

1 

Total                                 ...                   34 

591,000 

4 

37 

41 

349 

2.— ALL  FURNACES  BUILDING  AND  NOT  COMPLETED  IN  THE  CENSUS  YEAR. 


Classes. 

No.  of 
establish- 
ments. 

Capital. 

FVRXACE8. 

Kind  and  number. 

Total 
nnmber 
of  pots. 

Gas. 

T«,,v         Other        Total 
Tant        kinds,      nnmber. 

Plate-glass 

1 
4 
12 
5 

1 

1 

4 
12 
5 

M 

36 
129 
31 

$80,000 
235,000 
54,100 

4 
8 
5 

4 

Total  .     .. 

22 

389,100 

5 

17 

22 

212 

PLATE-GLASS. 
3.— FURNACES  THAT  MADE  NO  GLASS  IN  THE  CENSUS  TEAR. 


FVRXACK8. 

No.  of 
States.                             establish- 
ments. 

Capital. 

Kind  and  number. 

Total 

Gas. 

T...V          Other 
Tank-        kinds. 

Total 

number. 

of  pots. 

Kentucky  1 

i 

1 

g 

Total  1 

1 

i 

g 

4.— FURNACES  BUILDING  AND  NOT  COMPLETED  IN  THE  CENSUS  TEAR. 


FUSXACI8. 

No.  of 
States.                             establish- 
ments. 

Capital.   . 

Kind  and  number. 

Total 

ft*.           TJanV          Other         Total 
.as.         Tank.        tjnd8       numbel. 

of  pots. 

Missouri  1 

1                                                  1 

16 

Total  1 

1                                                  i 

10 

i 

WINDOW-GLASS. 

5.— FURNACES  THAT  MADE  NO  GLASS  IN  THE  CENSUS  TEAR. 


• 

States. 

• 

N».  of 
establish- 
ments. 

Capital. 

FrBXACES. 

Kind  and  number. 

Total 

number 
of  pots. 

Gas. 

Tank. 

Other        Total 
kinds,      nnmber. 

Tllinnii?  _  _ 

1 
1 

2 

1 
2 
1 
2 

1 
1 
2 
1 
2 

2 

1 
1 

2 

1 
2 
1 
2 

10 
8 

16 
8 
14 

• 
18 

Iowa  . 

$25,000 

Massachusetts  .. 

Missouri  

10,000 
10,000 
45,000 

New  York     

Total  .  .  . 

10                    90.000 

10                  10                  g> 

1051 


14 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


WINDOW-GLASS— Continued. 
6.— FURNACES  BUILDING  AND  NOT  COMPLETED  IN  THE  CENSUS  TEAR. 


States. 

No.  of 
establish- 
ments. 

Capital. 

FURNACES. 

Kind  and  number. 

Total 
number 
of  pots. 

Gas. 

Tank. 

Other 
kinds. 

Total 
number. 

Illinois  , 

1 

1 
1 

1 

$35,000 

1 
1 
1 
1 

1 
1 
1 
1 

10 
6 

10 
10 

New  Jersey  

New  York  

Ohio  

45,000 

Total  

4 

80,000 

4 

4 

36 

GLASSWARE. 
7.— FURNACES  THAT  MADE  NO  GLASS  IN  THE  CENSUS  TEAR. 


States. 

No.  of 
establish, 
mentg. 

Capital. 

FURNACES. 

Kind  and  number. 

Total 
number 
of  pots. 

Gas. 

Tank. 

Other 
kinds. 

Total 
number. 

District  of  Columbia 

1 
1 

3 
2 
2 
2 
4 

$25,000 
20,000 
6,000 
110,000 
30,000 

1 
2 
7 
3 
2 

1 
2 
7 
3 
2 
2 
5 

6 
16 
70 
26 
11 
24 
48 

Illinois               

New  York 

Ohio... 

2 
1 

76,000 

4 

Total 

15 

267,000 

3 

19 

22 

201 

8.— FURNACES  BUILDING  AND  NOT  COMPLETED  IN  THE  CENSUS  YEAR. 


States. 

No.  of 
establish- 
ments. 

Capital. 

FURNACES. 

Kind  and  number. 

Total 
number 
of  pots. 

Gas. 

Tank. 

O'ther 

kinds. 

Total 
number. 

1 
1 
1 
1 
3 
5 

$20,600 
30,000 

1 

1 
1 
1 
1 
3 
5 

13 
8 
10 
8 
38 
52 

1 
1 
1 

1 
4 

New  Jersey  

Ohio 

95,000 
90,000 

2 
1 

Total  

12 

235,000 

4 

8 

12 

129 

GREEN  GLASS. 
9.-FURNACTES  THAT  MADE  NO  GLASS  IN  THE  CENSUS  YEAR. 


State*. 

No.  of 
establish- 
ments. 

Capital. 

FURNACES. 

Kind  and  number. 

Total 
number 
of  p«ts. 

Gas. 

Tank. 

Other 
kinds. 

Total 
number. 

Massachusetts  

1 
2 
4 
1 

si  oo.  000 
44,000 
80,000 
10,  000 

1 

2 
4 

1 
2 

4 

1 

11 
12 
29 
6 

Ohio  

1 

Total  

8 

234,000 

,  1 

7 

8 

58 

10.— FURNACES  BUILDING  AND  NOT  COMPLETED  IN  THE  CENSUS  YEAR. 


States. 

No.  of 
establish- 
ments. 

Capital. 

FURNACES. 

Kind  and  number. 

Total 
number 
of  pots. 

Gas. 

Tank. 

Other 
kinds. 

Total 
number. 

Ohio  

1 
1 
1 
2 

21,100 
10,000 
23,  000 

1 
1 
1 

2 

1 
1 
1 
2 

6 
5 
5 
15 

New  York  

Total            .    ...,  

5 

54,100 

5 

5 

31 

MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


15 


TABLE  VI.— CONSOLIDATED  STATISTICS  OF  ALL  THE  GLASS  WORKS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

AT  THE  CENSUS  OF  1880,  BY  STATES. 


i 

XUMB1 

[BOFf 

UBXAC 

ESAXI 

POTS. 

XUJO 

3ER  OF 

1ASDS 

KJIPLOr 

ID. 

a  a 

| 

i 

State* 

! 

•3 

3 
I 

u 

H 

1 

i 

Other  kinds. 

1 

1 

CO 
O 

li 

r.  >> 

Females  above 
15  years. 

Males  16  years 
and  under. 

Females  15  years 
and  under. 

1 
j| 

l|i 

OR 

H 

"3 

I1 

H 

•s  _ 

The  United  States  

211 

$19,  844,  699 

348 

21 

5 

322 

2,982 

24  177 

17,778 

741 

5,566 

12 

$9,  144,  100 

$8,028,621 

$21  154,571 

" 

75  000 

1 

1 

7 

113 

80 

33 

45  924 

48,070 

140  000 

1 

130  000 

1 

1 

10 

160 

130 

2 

28 

65  000 

70  000 

160  000 

District  of  Colombia*  

1 

25,000 

1 

1 

6 

Illinois            

7 

445  000 

12 

12 

110 

732 

632 

100 

342,027 

297  842 

901  343 

4 

1,442,000 

10 

10 

108 

862 

695 

53 

108 

6 

284  207 

433  733 

790  781 

3 

57  000 

3 

1 

2 

28 

35 

94 

2 

9 

2.000 

3  248 

3  500 

5 

795  000 

6 

55 

522 

364 

11 

145 

2 

150  322 

134  104 

388,  405 

g 

436  000 

10 

10 

76 

612 

524 

88 

234  254 

239  682 

587  000 

11 

823  000 

22 

1 

21 

206 

946 

828 

58 

60 

383  342 

329  864 

854  345 

Michigan  

1 

65  000 

1 

8 

54 

50 

4 

30  000 

35  113 

90  000 

1 

25  000 

1 

8 

Missouri 

g 

1  430  000 

9 

1 

g 

965 

709 

36 

220 

381,098 

351,871 

919  827 

50  000 

2 

2 

8 

102 

80 

g 

14 

25  600 

34,000 

70  000 

27 

2,728  021 

56 

I 

55 

377 

3  578 

2  762 

46 

768 

2 

1  300  038 

1  088  346 

2,810  170 

X  ew  York 

32 

1  933  600 

48 

1 

I 

46 

373 

3,078 

2,116 

50 

899 

13 

1  046  812 

944  691 

2  420  796 

Ohio   

20 

1  194  850 

29 

5 

24 

277 

1  688 

1  170 

81 

437 

644,520 

459  333 

1  549  320 

78 

7  639  706 

127 

g 

3 

115 

1  168 

9  784 

6  999 

294 

2,425 

68 

3  897  306 

3  350  660 

8,720  584 

•    4 

550  522 

g 

2 

6 

82 

946 

615 

100 

228 

3 

311  650 

208,064 

748,500 

Not  in  operation  during  census  year. 


t  Building. 


TABLE  VII.— CONSOLIDATED  STATISTICS  OF  ALL  THE  GLASS  WOEKS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

AT  THE  CENSUS  OF  1880,  BY  STATES  AND  COUNTIES. 

CALIFORNIA. 


I 

KUMBRB  OF  FURNACES  AXD  POTS. 

XUUBEB  OF  HANDS  EMPLOYED. 

Jj 

1 

i 

a 

s* 

•        1  •           nd 

:     =    1 

|f 

° 

"3  . 

Connties. 

•S 

=  •3 

11 

$ 

- 

i 

| 

1 

t 

A 

1 

1 

| 

1       ^~    i" 

=  r  . 

3|| 

0  f  >> 

"s 

t- 

1 

M 

O 

H 

0 

H 

O 

& 

P 

a      s.      o 

H 

H 

H 

l 

$75,000 

1 

1 

7 

113 

80    33 

$45,924 

$48,070 

$140,000 

CONNECTICUT. 


Middlesex  

1 

i 

*130  000            1 

1 

10  1        160 

130          2 

28 

$65,000 

$70,000 

$160,000 

DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA. 

l 

y>s  ooo  !      i 

1 

g 

*  Xot  in  operation  during  census  year. 
ILLINOIS. 


Total  for  State                                          7 

$445,000 

12 

12 

110 

732 

sy> 

100 

*349  no? 

$^*97  849 

$901  343 

Cook*  :       1 

20  000 

0 

9 

J 

i 

LaSalle  4 

235  000 

6 

$ 

387 

337 

50 

195  508 

168,755 

523  343 

140  000 

2 

2 

14 

280 

"30 

50 

101  519 

9°  707 

°85  000 

Rock  Island                                                     I        1 

50  000 

•> 

•> 

9A 

65 

165 

45  (XX) 

36  380 

93  000 

*  Not  in  operation  daring  census  year. 


1053 


16 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


TABLE  VIL— STATISTICS  OF  GLASS  WOKKS,  BY  STATES  AND  COUNTIES,  ETC.:  1880. 

INDIANA. 


Counties. 

Number  of  establish- 
ments. 

3 
'1 

0 

HUMBEB  OF  FUBNACES  AND  POTS. 

NUHBEB  OF  BANDS  EMPLOYED. 

j!l 

| 

CM 
O 

f1 
I 

i 

«M 

O 

fi 

H 

3 
H 

I 

A 

a 

H 

Other  kinds. 

(S 

EH 

IP 
f-t 

1| 

•3 

Females  above 
15  years. 

Children  and 
youths. 

Total  for  State 

4 

$1,  442,  000 

10 

10 

108 

862 

695 

53 

114 

$284,207 

$433,  733 

$790,  7(1 

Clark 

1 
3 

142,  000 
1,  300,  000 

2 
8 

2 
8 

42 

163 
699 

131 
564 

13 
40 

19 
95 

56,850 
227,357 

70,  133 
363,600 

140,400 
650,381 

Floyd 

Clark 

1 
3 

142,  000 
1,  300,  000 

2 
8 

2 
8 

1<5 

»2 

163 
699 

131 
564 

13 
40 

19 
95 

56,850 
227,357 

70,  133 
363,600 

140,400 
650,381 

Floyd 

» 
IOWA. 

Total  for  State   

3 

$57,000 

3 

1 

2 

28 

35 

24 

2 

0 

$2,000 

$3,248 

$3,500 

1 
1 
1 

20,000 
12,000 
25,000 

1 
1 

1 

1 

13 
7 
8 

1 
1 

35 

24 

2 

9 

2,000 

3,248 

S.500 

Scottl                           

*  Building.                                                                                                                                    tldle. 
KENTUCKY. 

Total  for  State 

5 

$795,  000 

7 

1 

6 

55 

522 

364 

11 

147 

$150,  322 

$134,104 

$388,405 

3 
2 

295,000 
500,  000 

4 
3 

4 
2 

28 
27 

169 
353 

132 
232 

1 
10 

36 
111 

32,  917 
117,  405 

37,  079 
97,  025 

123,075 
265,330 

1 

MARYLAND. 

Total  for  State   .    ...                ..  .. 

8 

$436,000 

10 

10 

76 

612 

524 

88 

$234,254 

$239,682 

$587,000 

Allegan  v  *    ..  .  -  

1 
7 

30,000 
406,000 

1 
9 

1 
9 

8 
68 

612 

524 

88 

234,254 

239,682 

587,000 

*  Building. 
MASSACHUSETTS. 

Total  for  State   

11 

$823,000 

22 

1 

21 

206 

946 

828 

58 

60 

$383,342 

$329,864 

$854,345 

2 
4 

1 
3 
1 

206,000 
120,000 
110,000 
300,  000 
87,000 

5 
6 
2 
7 
2 

5 
5 
2 

7 
2 

50 
52 
20 
70 
14 

217 
19T 
130 
352 
90 

180 
155 
124 
306 
63 

25 
2 

4 
24 
3 

12 

100,  000 
55,  342 
50,000 
151,  000 
27,000 

85,000 
63,294 
32,000 
125,  500 
24,  070 

200,000 
149,  845 
125,000 
307,500 
72,000 

Berkshire  .                  

1 

Bristol  .  

2 
22 
24 

Middlesex  

Suffolk  

MICHIGAN. 

Wayne  

1 

$65,000 

1 

1 

8 

.     54 

50 



4 

$30,000 

$35,  113 

$90,000 

MISSISSIPPI. 

Jackson  *  

1 

$25,  000 

1 

1 

8 

*  Building. 
MISSOURI. 

Total  for  State   .  . 

6 

$1,  430,  000 

9 

1 



8 

75 

965 

709 

36 

220 

$381,  098 

$351,  871 

$919,  827 

Jefferson  

1 
5 

1,  150,  000 
280,000 

1 
8 

1 

16 
59 

350 
615 

314 
395 

36 

120,  000 
261,  098 

112,  925 
238,946 

322,550 
597,  277 

Saint  Louis  

8 

220 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE. 

HillBborongh  

1          $50,000           2 

! 

2              8 

102 

80 

8 

14 

$25,600!        $34,000 

$70,000 

1054 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


17 


TABLE  VlL— STATISTICS  OF  GLASS  WORKS,  BY  STATES  AND  COUNTIES,  ETC.:  1880. 

NEW  JERSEY. 


Counties. 

Number  of  establish- 
meutl. 

! 

o 

KVMBKB  OF  FUR5ACKS  AXD  POTS.      XUHBEB  OF  HANDS  EXPLOITED. 

=  z 
^ 

!l 
IS 

fk 
yi 

1 

1 

% 

2 
I 

«M 
O 

mi 

1§ 

, 

1 

x 

Ulkur  kln.lH. 

3 
1 

H 

o 

« 

II 

J  " 

3 

I'YinnloH  abovn 
15  ycai*. 

Children  and 
youths. 

'Total  for  State 

27 

$2,728,021 

56 

1 

55          377 

3,578 

2,762 

46 

770 

$1,  300,  038 

$1,088,346 

$2,810,1?$ 

-Atlantic*     

1 

1 

1 
4 
5 
24 
13 
1 
7 

8 
34 

34 
172 
84 
8 
37 

3 
4 
10 
5 
1 
3 

130,000 
290,000 
805,021 
1,175,000 
30,000 
298,000 

4 
5 
24 
14 
1 
7 

| 

244 

1,783 
1,051 

us 

1.232 
854 

46 
506 
196 

106,622 
586,632 
426,900 

104,880 
407,335 
373,900 

2S2.38& 

1,132,450 
947,865 

45 

1 

Gloucester  

1 

Hudson  *  

.Salem                   .      -             

500 

478 

22 

179,884 

202,231 

447,53* 

*  Idle. 
NEW  YORK. 


Total  for  State          ..  .. 

32 

$1  933,600 

48 

1 

1 

46 

373 

3  078 

2.116 

50 

912 

$1,048,812 

$944,691 

$2,420  796 

1 

23  000 

1 

1 

5 

Columbia  

1 

10  900 

1 

1 

1 

12 

g 

g 

6.000 

6.377 

13  140 

1 

50  000 

1 

1 

104 

68 

36 

11.625 

13  755 

27  145 

Erie 

1 

30  000 

1 

1 

5 

60 

42 

18 

22  166 

16,  974 

42,  909 

Jefferson  t  

1 

10  000 

1 

8 

Kin^g                        .  .         *. 

I9 

930  600 

22 

1 

21 

m 

1  854 

1  158 

36 

660 

630  857 

489  593 

1  318  081 

1 

"'  ••  1 

1 

1 

g 

1 

45  000 

1 

1 

7 

120 

76 

3 

41 

18,000 

23  055 

55  000 

2 

100  000 

2 

2 

20 

83 

83 

63,179 

68  518 

140  000 

1 

130  000 

2 

2 

16 

73 

72 

1 

41,388 

40  589 

116,940 

2 

70  000 

4 

29 

220 

119 

101 

51  96"' 

49  773 

Vi  182 

Oswego  

3 

160  000 

4 

32 

152 

152 

47  394 

63  156 

149  735 

Steuben  

1 

75  000 

; 

2 

18 

108 

107 

1 

51  000 

"°'il* 
48,000 

120  000 

1 

40  000 

i 

1 

10 

60 

60 

20  000 

23.257 

60  000 

Ulster 

1 

25  000 

2 

•> 

13 

100 

60 

10 

30 

25  000 

41  010 

70  000 

2 

150  000 

2 

2 

18 

132 

113 

19* 

58,241 

60  634 

180  664 

Building. 


t  Idle. 


OHIO. 


Total  for  State   

20 

$1  194  850 

29 

5 

24          277 

1  688 

1  170 

81 

437 

$644  520 

$459  333 

$1  549,32* 

485,350 

15 

3 

1°          151 

829 

528 

51 

250 

335  805 

225  872 

794  920 

Franklin     ..     . 

50  000 

1 

1            10 

50 

50 

16,  000 

13  200 

45  000 

210  000 

5 

2 

3             56 

386 

253 

30 

103 

122.202 

90  843 

309  102 

22,000 

1 

1 

•>72  000 

4 

28 

250 

180 

70 

90  000 

72,318 



23°  00* 

Portage  

155,500 

3 

. 

3            26 

173 

159 

14 

80  513 

57  100 

^ 
Ml    -i* 

i«,  a 

*  Idle. 
PENNSYLVANIA. 


Total  for  State  

78 

$7  639,706 

127 

9 

3 

115 

1  168 

9,784 

6,999 

294 

2,491 

$3,897,306 

$3  350  660 

$8,720  584 

51 

5  4S1  000 

85 

5 

1 

77 

797 

6,053 

4  442 

141 

1,470 

2  686,425 

2,  139  658 

5  668  212 

1 

30  000 

1 

1 

10 

4 

256  437 

7 

2 

5 

79 

544 

375 

11 

158 

193  000 

211  000 

503  587 

Fayette  

3 

171  800 

5 

44 

313 

310 

3 

137  959 

84,043 

361  315 

2 

6°  000 

2 

2 

18 

125 

122 

3 

46  900 

42,638 

102,  511 

1 

100  000 

2 

o 

13 

*     75 

70 

! 

26,000 

40  000 

7°  00* 

1 

30  000 

1 

1 

5 

80 

65 

15 

25  000 

36  120 

80  000 

Philadelphia   

11 

i  212.  419 

18 

2 

16 

158 

2  237 

1  358 

128 

751 

655  022 

696  393 

1,621,959 

Tioga  

2 

66,000 

16 

45 

43 

2 

23  000 

29  515 

54  000 

"Wayne 

4 

-• 

4 

4 

M 

312 

214 

14 

84 

104  000 

71  293 

257  009 

*  Building. 
WEST  VIRGINIA. 


Total  for  State 

4 

$550  522 

8 

2 

6            82           946 

615 

100           231          $311  659 

$208  064           $748,50* 

Brooke  

1 

50  000 

1 

1            10           128 

90 

; 
13             25              15  200 

15,500    ,            34,500 

Ohio  

3 

500  5°"' 

7 

2 

5            7°           818 

525 

' 
"06            "96,450 

192,  56  1              714,000 

i                       i 

ll 

18 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


TABLE  VIII..— CONSOLIDATED  STATISTICS   OF  THE  MATERIALS  USED  IN  THE  MANUFACTURE 

OF   GLASS,  AS  REPORTED  AT  THE   CENSUS  OF  1880. 


States. 

Mixing 
sand. 

Grinding 
sand. 

Soda-ash. 

NiBoda!°fsalt-cake- 

Salt. 

Lime. 

Lime- 
stone. 

Litharge. 

Pearl-ash. 

Arsenic. 

Manga- 
nese. 

Tons. 
155,  447 

Tone. 
39,500 

Tom. 
49,  626 

Tons. 
2,859 

Tom. 
7,877 

Tom. 
1,909 

Bushels. 

869,  886 

Tom. 
2,597 

Pounds. 
2,313,203 

Pounds. 
592,  932 

Pounds. 
713,  974 

Pounds. 
191,  14« 

1  200 

520 

55 

6,875 

9,767 
7,124 
25 

3,543 
5,344 
2,205 
650 
8,042 

500 
26,282 
16,122 
10,008 

2,495 
2,854 
10 

840 
1,902 
392 

225 
3,071 

200 
8,274 
5,865 
3,244 
18,  419 

1,315 

648 

611 
83 

49,607 
47,842 
650 

10,300 
62,  865 
2,348 
3,500 
47,  275 

2,800 
174,  680 
98,854 
45,635 
309,  122 

7,533 

300 

26,  100 
32,000 

32,  300 

2 

49 
36 
75 

400 

1,600 
1,500 
9,049 

337 
36 
255 

25 
40 

12 

7,000 

20,  000 

302 
2,710 
•     6,  697 

930 
24,  000 

-y 

346 

298,  260 

130,  111 

2 
233 

g 

7,200 

31 

360 

3,  960 

200 
1,320 
26 
233 
4,822 

p 

120 
194 
332 
1,841 

179 

163 
204 
101 
392 

455 

20,000 
559,  257 
210,000 
1,  218,  688 

100 
142,  456 
28,  000 
268,496 

3,769 

38,  453 
6,600 
28,  916 
547,266 

12,000 
27,505 
16,  436 

110,  178 

8,518 

New  York                          * 

Ohio                                                         

61  452 

1,124 

/ 

3,183 

States. 

Fire  clay, 
American. 

Fire  clay, 
English. 

Fire  clay, 
German. 

Pots. 

Coal. 

Coke. 

Wood. 

Lumber. 

Casks  and 
barrels. 

Nails. 

Straw  and 
hay. 

Grand  total  

Pounds. 
9,196,655 

Pound*. 

110,  000 

Pounds. 
7,927,236 

Number. 
13,655 

Tom. 
646,898 

Tons. 
28,  410 

Cords. 
63,867 

M./eet. 
53,585 

Number. 
914,  619 

Kegs. 
15,  150 

Tons. 
21,  298 

120,000 

24,000 

56,000 

60 
16 
627 
1,100 
1 

202 
587 
150 
12Q. 
601 

75 
2,118 
1,661 
835 
5,170 

332 

1,650 
1,800 
35,  242 
61,  050 
400 

12,  829 
15,723 
10,899 
3,600 
36,  070 

1,000 
61,  530 
d2,  266 
54,945 
278,  575 

19,  319 

375 
50 
4,212 
460 

128 

100 

50 

72 

300 
400 
71 
40 

982 

817,000 
662,000 
37,500 

165,  000 
68,000 
253,  679 
75,000 
951,  350 

16,000 
30,  000 

2,012 
1,767 
18 

1,115 
2,210 
301 
300 
1,154 

80 
10,529 
5,201 
3,098 
24,  834 

838 

4,500 

544 
1,040 
10 

690 
593 

148 
60 
512 

25 
3,596 
1,698 
670 
5,062 

452 

941 
467 

1 

1,155 
409 
325 
40 
617 

25 
3,002 
2,  328 
1,375 
9,787 

754 

800 

400 
1,200 
53,  475 

1,000 
624,  000 
152,  800 
100,  000 

60 
1,848 
1,184 
600 
3,203 

1,000 
29,  144 
11,247 
1,488 
8,996 

60,000 

1,017 

781 
200 

1,500 

25,  000 
2,  251,  998 
1,  595,  650 
147,  600 
2,  927,  188 

629,  000 
242,  000 
700,  425 
3,  541,  981 

933,720 

31,000 
147,  977 
86,  835 
516,  520 

70,  312 

2,484 
3,935 
16,277 

1,923 

Ohio 

26,000 

West  Virginia          ... 

i 

1056 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


19 


CHAPTER  II.— GLASS:  ITS  COMPOSITION,  CLASSIFICATION,  AND  PKOPERTIES. 


DIFFICULTY  OF  DEFINITION. — It  is  extremely  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  give  a  definition  of  glass  that  shall 
be  simple  and  yet  embrace  all  substances  to  which  the  term  is  properly  applied. 

GLASS,  CHEMICAL  AND  COMMERCIAL. — Iii  chemistry  many  compounds  of  silica,  borax,  tin,  antimony,  and  other 
substances  are  called  glass,  being  known  as  "  silicate  glass",  "  phosphate  glass",  or  "  borax  glass",  according  to  the 
material  of  the  compound.  Indeed,  any  product  of  fusion  that  is  hard  and  brittle  and  has  the  peculiar  luster  called 
vitreous  is  chemically  known  as  glass.  Commercially,  however,  the  word  glass  is,  with  few  exceptions,  chiefly  the 
enamels  applied  only  to  the  silicates,  or  the  compounds  of  silica,  generally  in  the  form  of  sand,  with  lime,  soda, 
potash,  the  oxide  of  lead,  and  similar  bases.  The  manufactured  glass  of  commerce,  however,  is  not  a  simple 
silicate,  but,  with  one  exception  (water  glass),  is  a  fused  mixture  of  two  or  more  simple  silicates.  Flint  glass,  for 
example,  is  a  double  silicate  of  potash  and  lead ;  window-glass  a  tersilicate  of  potash,  soda,  and  lime.  In  the 
process  of  manufacture,  however,  these  simple  silicates  are  not  first  separately  produced  and  then  fused,  but  the 
making  of  the  "metal",  as  the  fused  glass  is  termed,  is  a  double  process,  though  a  continuous  one,  the  simple 
silicates  of  lime,  or  soda,  or  lead,  or  potash,  as  the  case  may  be,  being  first  formed  in  the  pot  of  the  glass-maker 
from  the  materials  charged,  and  then,  without  any  break  in  the  continuity  of  the  process,  these  simple  silicates  are 
fused  in  the  same  pot,  and  at  the  same  melting,  into  the  vitrified,  non-crystalline  material  we  know  as  glass,  (a) 

CHIEF  CONSTITUENTS. — It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  principal  and  essential  constituents  of  glass  are  silica  or 
sand  and  an  alkali,  or  sometimes  a  metallic  oxide.  The  chief  alkalies  used  are  soda,  lime,  and  potash,  and  the  chief 
oxide  is  that  of  lead.  Other  oxides,  as  those  of  zinc,  tin,  and  antimony, are  sometimes  used;  and  other  materials,  as 
manganese,  oxide  of  iron,  arsenic,  etc.,  are  found  in  glass,  but  they  are  there  as  impurities,  or  as  materials  used  to 
correct  impurities. 

VARIABILITY  OF  COMPOSITION. — While  these  are  the  chief  constituents,  and  while  it  is  possible  to  indicate 
approximately  the  composition  of  the  different  kinds  of  glass,  this  composition,  even  in  different  specimens  of  the 
same  kind,  is  by  no  means  definite.  The  relative  quantities  of  silica  and  the  alkalies  vary  greatly.  Flint  or 
lead  glass,  for  example,  is  made  harder  or  softer  as  the  proportion  of  sand  is  increased  or  decreased,  though 
in  these  varying  degrees  of  hardness  it  would  be  termed  a  silicate  of  potash  and  lead.  The  crystal,  flint  glass, 
and  Strass  of  Ure's  classification  differ  greatly  in  their  properties,  appearance,  and  composition,  but  each  is  regarded 
as  a  silicate  of  potash  and  lead.  In  a  word,  while  glass  is  regarded  as  a  chemical  compound — a  silicate — unlike 
most  chemical  compounds,  it  has  no  fixed  definite  composition  in  the  several  varieties.  Indeed,  though  constant 
attempts  have  been  made  to  produce  as  a  commercial  article  a  glass  of  that  fixed,  definite  composition  that 
experience  has  shown  to  be  the  best  for  a  given  kind,  but  little  success  has  been  attained,  except,  perhaps,  at  times 
at  the  celebrated  plate-glass  works  of  Saiut-Gobain,  France.  The  conditions  of  manufacture,  especially  in 
melting  and  the  varying  quality  of  the  ingredients,  preclude  this,  (b) 

APPROXIMATE  COMPOSITION. — Keeping  in  mind  this  variability  in  the  composition  of  glass,  the  proportion  of 
the  essential  ingredients  in  the  chief  varieties  included  in  the  report  of  the  special  agent  may  be  given  approximately 
as  follows : 


Kinds  of  glass. 

Silica. 

Soda. 

Lime. 

Potash. 

Gride  of 
lead. 

Oiide  of 
iron. 

Alumina. 

Cast  plate       .  . 

Per  «,.(. 
74  0 

Per  cent. 
12  0 

Percent. 
5  5 

Percent. 
5  50 

Percent. 

Percent. 

Percent. 

Window    

73  0 

13.0 

13  0 

Lead  flint  

52  0 

13  67 

33.28 

73  3 

14  5 

12  7 

60  0 

*>0  0 

3  00 

4 



10 



1W 

DIFFICULTY  OF  CLASSIFICATION  CHEMICALLY. — It  has  been  as  difficult  to  make  a  classification  of  glass  as  to 
define  it.  This  difficulty  chiefly  arises  from  the  variability  of  composition,  already  noted,  as  well  as  from  different 
writers  considering  glass  from  different  standpoints,  some  regarding  it  chemically,  others  commercially.  The 

a  Ure  defines  glass  as  "a  transparent  solid  formed  by  the  fusion  of  siliceous  and  alkaline  matter".  (See  Ure'g  Dictionary,  article, 
Glass.)  Fownes,  iu  his  Chemistry,  says:  "Glass  is  a  mixture  of  various  insoluble  silicates  with  excess  of  silica,  altogether  destitute  of 
crystalline  structure."  Lardner,  in  his  Cabinet  Cyclopcedia,  includes  "  all  mineral  substances  which,  on  the  application  of  heat,  pass 
through  a  state  of  fusion  into  hard  and  brittle  masses,  and  which,  if  then  broken,  exhibit  a  lustrous  fracture  ".  The  definition  of  Dr. 
Benrath,  of  Germany,  recently  published,  is  perhaps  the  best.  He  says:  "  By  glass,  in  the  technical  sense  of  the  term,  we  understand  a 
silicate  or  silicate  mixture  which  at  a  high  temperature  is  thin  fluid,  and  which,  as  the  temperature  falls,  passes  gradually  through  the 
tenaciously  fluid  into  the  solid  condition ;  in  which,  furthermore,  the  unassisted  eye  can  perceive  no  crystalline  structure,  and  which  is 
impenetrable  to  both  liquid  and  gaseous  fluids." 

b  A  discussion  of  the  reasons  for  this  lack  of  uniformity  of  composition  belongs  properly  to  chemistry. 
«7  M  M 


20  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

classification  used  iu  Lite  English  works,  that  of  Ure,  (a)  is  not  at  all  satisfactory,  as  while  it  professes  to  he.  a 
chemical  classification,  it  is  neither  that  nor  a  commercial  classification.  It  seems  well-nigh  impossible  to  make  a 
chemical  classification  that  shall  be  satisfactory.  (b) 

DIFFICULTY  OF  CLASSIFICATION  COMMERCIALLY. — A  similar  difficulty,  though  from  other  causes,  presents 
itself  in  any  attempt  to  classify  glass  on  any  basis,  especially  on  a  commercial  basis.  The  names  that  have 
attached  themselves  to  the  different  kinds  of  glass  are  almost  innumerable.  Without  attempting  a  classification, 
then,  that  shall  be  complete,  it  will  be  sufficient  for  the  purposes  of  this  report,  as  it  chiefly  considers  glass  as  an 
article  of  commerce,  to  mention  some  of  the  most  prominent  of  these  commercial  varieties.  (c\ 

CLASSIFICATION. — In  gathering  the  statistics  of  glass  at  the  present  census  a  classification  into  four  general 
varieties  was  used.  This  classification,  somewhat  extended,  to  include  sub-varieties  not  made  in  this  country,  is  as 
follows : 

1.  PLATE-GLASS  is  glass  which  is  cast  upon  a  flat,  smooth,  cast-iron  table  and  immediately  rolled  into  sheet* 
or  plates  of  a  required  thickness  by  heavy  rollers.    Without  being  allowed  to  cool,  the  plates  are  laid  in  annealing 
ovens.    It  is  chemically  a  silicate  of  lime  and  soda  or  potash. 

Roughplate  is  the  crude  plate-glass  as  it  comes  from  the  annealing  oven. 

Rolled  plate,  or  rolled  cathedral  plate,  is  rough  plate  from  one-eighth  to  one-quarter  of  an  inch  in  thickness. 

Ribbed  plate  is  a  rough  plate,  with  regular  corrugations  or  ribs. 

Polished  plate,  to  which  the  term  plate-glass  is  usually  applied,  is  the  rough  plate  that  has  been  submitted  to 
the  successive  operations  of  grinding,  smoothing,  and  polishing  to  prepare  it  for  use  for  windows,  mirrors,  etc. 

These  are  the  only  varieties  of  plate-glass  produced  in  this  country,  and  are  all  the  varieties  that  are  produced 
from  cast  glass.  Formerly  a  blown  glass,  made  somewhat  heavier  than  sheet  or  window  glass,  and  called  blown 
plate,  was  made  in  England,  and  is  still  made  in  Germany  to  some  extent. 

Patent  plate  is  also  a  name  applied  in  England  to  ordinary  sheet  glass  ground  and  polished  by  Chance's  patent 
process. 

2.  WINDOW-GLASS. — This  is  more  properly  termed  sheet  or  cylinder  glass.    It  is  the  ordinary  window-glass  of 
commerce,  and  is  blown  in  cylinders,  which  are  opened  and  flattened  out  into  sheets,  some  as  large  as  60  by  40  or 
80  by  30  inches.     It  is  a  silicate  of  lime  and  soda  or  potash. 

Colored  or  painted  glass,  so  far  as  the  same  is  used  for  windows,  may  be  included  in  this  class.  This  is  a  silicate 
of  lime  and  soda  with  the  necessary  coloring  matter.  It  receives  different  names,  according  to  the  method  of 
applying  the  color.  It  is  termed  pot  metal  (d)  when  the  color  permeates  the  whole  body  of  the  glass,  fashed  or 
double  glass  (ft)  when  the  colors  are  confined  to  the  surface,  and  stained  glass  when  the  colors  are  burned  into  the 
surface  in  the  glass-stainer's  kiln. 

Croicn-glass  is  also  a  variety  of  blown  window-glass  that  is  no  longer  made  in  this  country,  though  it  is  still 
made  in  England.  It  is  first  blown,  and  then  by  peculiar  and  very  skillful  manipulations  formed  into  a  circular 
table  with  a  bullion  or  bull's-eye  in  the  center.  From  this  table  moderate-sized  window-plates  are  cut  which  show 
a  crowned  surface. 

3.  FLINT  GLASS. — This  term  has  a  wide  application,  and  includes  table  and  other  glassware,  both  blown  and 
pressed,  chimneys,  and  a  large  class  of  bottles  and  vials,  articles  often  differing  widely  in  chemical  composition. 

a  This  classificalion  is  as  follows  (see  Dictionary  of  Arts,  etc.,  article,  "Glass" ). 

1.  Soluble  glass:  a  simple  silicate  of  potash  or  soda,  or  both  of  these  alkalies. 

2.  Crown-glass  :  a  silicate  of  potash  and  lime. 

3.  Bottle-glass:  silicate  of  lime,  soda,  alumina,  and  iron. 

4.  Common  window-glass :  silicate  of  soda  and  lime,  sometimes  also  of  potash. 

5.  Plate-glass:  silica,  soda  or  potash,  lime,  and  alumina. 

6.  Ordinary  crystal  glass  :  silicate  of  potash  and  lead. 

7.  Fliut-glass :  silicate  of  potash  and  lead. 

8.  Strass  :  silicate  of  potash  and  lead,  still  richer  in  lead. 

9.  Enamel:  silicate  and  stanuate,  or  antimoniate  of  potash,  or  soda  and  lead. 

We  must  remember  with  regard  to  this  table  that  crown-glass  always  contains  soda,  that  alumina  and  iron  are  accidental,  not 
essential,  constituents  of  bottle-glass,  aud  that  enamels  vary  greatly  in  their  composition.  Tin  is  not  present  in  transparent  enamels. 

b  Tomlinson's  classification,  quoted  in  Lippincolt's  Encyclopaedia  of  Chemistry,  vol.  ii,  page  8,  is  one  of  the  best. 

c  It  may  be  well  to  note  that  glass  is  divided  into  two  general  classes,  natural  and  artificial  glass,  and  these  are  again  subdivided. 
Natural  glass  is  that  produced  entirely  by  natural  agencies,  without  any  assistance  from  man.  It  includes  the  mineral  obsidian,  au  impure, 
semi-transparent  glass,  varying  in  color  fro  11  gray  to  black,  found  in  the  vicinity  of  volcanoes,  and  which  was  used  in  the  manufacture 
of  works  of  arts  by  the  ancient  Romans  and  Egyptians,  and  in  later  times  by  the  Mexicans  ;  and  the  fine  capillary  glass  called  Pelc's  hair, 
found  at  the  volcano  of  Kilanea,  in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  water  glass,  found  iu  certain  springs.  Water  glass  is  also  found  absorbed 
in  certain  basaltic  rocks,  and  attempts  have  been  mad",  with  considerable  success,  to  use  decomposed  basalt  for  manufacturing  bottle-glass. 
Artificial  glass  is  that  produced  in  the  arts.  It  includes,  in  addition  to  that  made  in  the  glasshouses,  various  slags  resulting  from 
metallurgical  operations,  as  blast-furnace  slag,  which  is  a  lime  glass  with  an  excess  of  lime,  and  slag-wool,  which  is  an  artificial  Pelt's 
Lair.  It  also  includes  many  chemical  glasses.  A  classification  of  glass  according  to  method  of  manufacture  is  also  sometimes  made  as 
"cast  glass",  "blowu  glass,"  and  "pressed  glass".  A  classification  according  to  use  also  sometimes  obtains  as  window-glass,  bottle- 
glass,  chemical  glass,  and  one,  according  to  place  of  manufacture,  as  Venetian,  Egyptian,  etc. 

d  Pot  metal  and  flashed  glass  are  al-so  made  in  flint  glass. 
1038 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  21 

It  includes  lime  glass  or  the  common  flint,  sometimes  also  called  German  flint,  and,  by  many  American  manufacturers, 
crystal  glass.  It  is  a  silicate  of  lime  and  soda  or  potash.  The  celebrated  Bohemian  glass  is  a  lime  glass,  as  is  also 
the  "  Gobeleterie"  of  the  French,  which  is  a  silicate  of  lime  and  soda,  potash  being  used  only  in  a  better  glass. 

A  second  general  subdivision  of  flint  glass  is : 

Lead  glass.— This  is  a  silicate  of  potash  and  lead  which  has  literally  the  ring  of  metal,  and  is  distinguished  from 
the  lime  glass  by  this  ring  and  its  greater  specific  gravity.  It  is  also,  as  a  rule,  more  brilliant.  This  glass  is  tho, 
crystal  (cristaux)  of  the  French  and  the  true  flint  of  the  English. 

Strass  is  a  glass  very  rich  in  lead,  used  in  the  manufacture  of  artificial  gems. 

Optical  glass  is  both  a  lead  and  lime  glass,  the  former  known  in  instrument-making  as  flint,  and  the  latter  as 
crown,  but  differing  from  the  "crown"  mentioned  under  "window-glass".  These  glasses  are  of  different  densities 
and  refractive  powers,  and  are  used  in  the  manufacture  of  achromatic  object-glasses.  The  terms  "flint"  and 
"  crown "  glass  are,  according  to  Bontemps,  applied  on  the  continent  of  Europe  exclusively  to  optical  glass. 

4.  GREEN  GLASS. — This  is  a  coarse,  greenish  glass,  often  termed  bottle-glass,  it  being  used  chiefly  for  common 
bottles.  It  is  called  in  this  country  hollow  ware,  though  the  German  lohlylcs,  or  hollow  glass,  comprises  all  glass 
worked  into  the  form  of  vessels  or  tubes.  The  American  green  glass  is  a  silicate  of  lime,  soda,  alumina,  and  iron, 
the  last  two  ingredients  being  found  as  impurities  in  the  sand,  the  iron  giving  the  glass  its  greenish  hue. 

To  these  varieties  might  be  added  many  others,  which  it  would  exceed  the  scope  of  this  report  to  mention. 
There  are  some  varieties,  however,  that  deserve  notice.  Among  these  are  water  glass,  or  soluble  glass,  a  silicate  of 
soda  or  potash,  or  both,  which  is  highly  alkaline,  and  is  used  in  the  manufacture  of  soap,  as  a  vehicle  in  painting,  a 
mordant  in  fixing  colors,  in  the  preparation  of  artificial  hydraulic  cement,  and  in  the  silification  of  calcareous  stone. 

Enamel  is  A  silicate,  borate,  stanuate,  or  antimoniate  of  potash  or  soda  and  lead. 

Hardened,  toughened,  or  tempered  glass  is  not  annealed,  as  is  usual  with  glass,  but  is  tempered  in  a  hot,  oily 
mixture,  as  in  M.  de  la  Bastie's  process,  or  in  peculiarly  constructed  molds,  as  in  Siemens'  process. 

Spun  glass  is  a  glass  drawn  into  threads  finer  than  silk  and  woven  into  small  articles. 

Ground  glass. — The  obscuring  of  the  surface  of  sheet  glass  or  flint-glass  is  accomplished  by  the  friction  of  a 
stone  wheel,  or  a  movable  rack  with  pebbles  or  little  stones,  water,  and  sand,  or  by  the  sand-blast,  or  by  the  fumes 
of  hydrofluoric  acid. 

In  figured  and  cut  glass  the  ground  surface  is  removed  in  set  forms  and  designs  by  the  use  of  wheels  of  stone, 
wood,  or  cork,  or  by  the  use  of  hydrofluoric  acid,  producing  both — 

Etclied  and  embossed  gla#s. 

Iridescent  glass  is  a  reproduction  by  art  of  the  beautiful  iridescent  colors  of  ancient  glass  that  has  been  long 
buried. 

To  these  varieties  may  be  added  the  beautiful  products  of  ancient  and  modem  Venetian  glass  mentioned  in  the 
chapter  on  modern  glass!  • 

SPECIFIC  GRAVITY. — The  specific  gravity  of  glass  is  a  property  of  considerable  importance  in  connection 
with  the  manufacture  of  object-glasses  for  achromatic  telescopes  and  of  artificial  gems,  though  in  the  production 
of  common  glass  but  little  attention  is  given  to  it.  In  general  the  power  of  refracting  light  increases  with  the 
increase  of  its  specific  gravity,  though  density  and  power  of  refraction  are  not  strictly  parallel. 

The  specific  gravity  of  glass,  as  well  as  its  brilliancy,  varies  with  its  composition,  the  heavier  glasses  being 
the  most  brilliant,  as  well  as  the  softest.  Lime  glass  is  the  lightest,  bottle-glass  comes  next,  and  lead  glass  is  the 
densest.  Its  density  is  also  influenced  by  the  degree  of  heaf  to  which  it  has  been  exposed  during  its  vitrification, 
being  always  least  when  the  temperature  has  been  greatest.  "The  following  are  the  specific  gravities  of  the  glasses 
named : 

Lime  glass : 

Bohemian 2.3% 

Plate-glass : 

Saint-Gobain }..  2.488 

Cherbourg 2.506 

Window-glass 2.732 

Bottle-glass 2.732 

Lead  glass : 

Common  flint 2.9  to  3. 255 

Optical ., 3. 3  to  3. 6 

CONDUCTIVITY  AND  TENSION. — Glass  is  a  bad  conductor  of  heat  and  electricity,  but  all  kinds  are  not  equally 
adapted  to  become  insulators,  glasses  rich  in  alkali  being  bad  insulators.  The  tension  and  enforced  equilibrium 
in  the  interior  of  a  mass  of  glass  rapidly  cooled,  as  exhibited,  for  example,  in  Prince  Rupert's  drops,  is  well 
known. 

TENSILE  AND  CRUSHING  STRENGTH.— The  tensile  strength  of  glass  is  given  at  from  2,500  to  9,000  pounds  per 
square  inch,  according  to  kind;  crushing  strength,  6,000  to  10,000  pounds  per  square  inch.  A  sample  of  Millville 


22  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

(New  Jersey)  flooring  glass,  one  inch  square  and  one  foot  between  the  end  supports,  broke  under  a  certain  load  c7 
about  170  pounds.    These  facts  would  indicate  that  glass  is  considerably  stronger  than  granite,  except  as  regard 
crushing,  in  which  the  two  are  about  equal. 

DEVITRIFICATION. — The  devitrification  of  glass  is  one  of  its  most  important  properties,  not  only  because  of 
its  bearing  on  the  manufacture  and  manipulation  of  glass,  but  because  the  devitrified  glass,  often  called  Eeaumur's 
porcelain,  can  replace  porcelain  for  most  of  its  uses.  Devitrification  is  a  crystallization  of  glass,  the  ordinary  glass 
being  non-crystalline.  In  the  manufacture  of  glass  by  the  ordinary  process  it  is  cooled  suddenly,  the  excessive 
brittleuess  and  internal  tension  thus  caused  being  reduced  by  annealing.  On  the  other  hand,  when  the  fused 
metal  is  cooled  slowly,  the  mass  assumes  a  crystalline  structure,  becomes  tough,  fibrous,  opaque,  much  less  fusible, 
so  hard  as  to  cut  other  glass,  is  not  so  easily  filed,  and  is  a  better  conductor  of  electricity  and  heat. 

DEVITRIFICATION  IN  ITS  RELATION  TO  MANIPULATION. — This  property  exerts  a  great  influence  in  the 
manufacture  of  glass.  It  explains,  indeed,  why,  in  the  making  of  bottles,  so  much  care  is  taken  to  avoid  the 
repeated  reheating  of  the  mass  which  is  to  be  formed  into  these  articles.  It  would  be  thoroughly  devitrified  in 
a  short  time;  the  glass  would  become  hard,  difficult  to  fuse,  and  would  present  a  multitude  of  solid  grains 
disseminated  in  a  matter  still  soft.  In  the  same  manner  it  is  evident  why  green  glass,  and  even  common  white 
glass,  and  still  more  so  bottle-glass,  can  only  be  shaped  by  the  lamp  of  the  enameler,  when  the  work  is  performed 
with  great  dispatch.  If  he  work  so  slowly  that  he  is  obliged  to  reheat  several  times  the  glass  tube  which  he  is 
blowing,  the  mass  devitrifies,  and  all  the  phenomena  show  themselves  which  have  just  been  described.  In  vain 
does  he  then  try  to  blow  a  bulb,  as  all  the  force  of  his  lungs  will  not  avail,  and  the  glass  is  no  longer  soft.  Beside, 
the  material  then  becomes  striated,  semi-opaque,  and  almost  infusible. 

OTHER  PROPERTIES. — These  and  the  other  properties  of  glass,  together  with  its  wide  range  of  uses  in  the 
arts,  contribute  to  render  it  one  of  the  most  curious  and  interesting  of  manufactured  articles.  Composed  of 
materials  that  are  opaque  and  of  but  little  luster  or  brilliancy,  it  is  itself  exceedingly  brilliant  and  of  a  most 
beautiful  polish.  Perfectly  transparent,  unless  impure,  and  transmitting  light  freely,  it  may  readily  be  obscured  or 
ground  so  as  to  soften  and  diffuse  the  light.  It  can  be  cut  in  various  forms,  increasing  its  richness  and  brilliancy; 
it  may  be  engraved  in  most  charming  and  delicate  tracery  and  figure-work,  or  it  may  be  tinted  with  any  color, 
either  opaque  or  transparent,  without  the  least  loss  of  brilliancy  or  polish.  Though  not  malleable,  (a)  its  ductility  is 
so  great  that  it  may  be  spun  in  a  moment  into  filaments  as  small  as  a  spider's  web  and  miles  in  length,  or  blown  to 
such  gauze-like  thinness  as  to  float  upon  the  air.  The  synonym  of  brittleness  itself,  its  elasticity  as  spun  glass  permits 
of  its  being  readily  bent  and  woven  into  cloth,  and  even  tied  into  knots,  while  a  ball  of  glass  dropped  upon  an  anvil 
will  rebound  two-thirds  the  distance  of  its  fall.  Though  hard  and  brittle  when  cold  and  incapable  of  being 
wrought,  when  heated  it  is  softened,  tenacious,  and  pliable,  and  is  capable  of  being  molded  into  any  form,  while  it 
retains  in  cooling  its  beautiful  polish.  In  ordinary  use  glass  resists  the  action  of  water  and  alkalies,  and,  with  a 
single  exception,  of  all  acids,  preserving  all  its  beauty,  retaining  its  surface,  and  not  losing  the  smallest  portion 
of  its  substance  by  the  most  frequent  use.  (b) 

EXTENT  OF  THE  USES  OF  GLASS. — For  many  centuries  these  properties  of  glass  have  caused  it  to  be  admired 
and  sought  for  by  all  classes.  It  was  the  material  of  many  of  the  most  common  utensils  in  the  Eoman  household 
in  the  days  of  the  empire,  when  porcelain  was  unknown,  as  it  is  of  our  homes  to-day.  Not  only  is  it  thus  devoted 
to  common  uses,  but  art,  taking  advantage  of  its  properties,  has  given  us  the  grace  and  beauty  of  the  Portland, 
Naples,  and  Milton  vases,  the  almost  unearthly  splendor  of  the  emblazoned  windows  of  the  mediaeval  churches, 
and  the  rare  color  and  graceful  design  of  the  well-nigh  imperishable  mosaics.  To  use  the  words  of  Dr.  Johnson : 

Who,  when  he  first  saw  the  sand  and  ashes  by  casual  inteuseness  of  heat  melted  into  a  metalline  form,  rugged  with  excrescences 
and  clouded  with  impurities,  would  have  imagined  that  in  this  shapeless  lump  lay  concealed  so  many  conveniences  of  life  as  would  in 
time  constitute  a  great  part  of  the  happiness  of  the  world?  Yet,  by  some  such  fortuitous  liquefaction,  was  mankind  taught  to  procure 
a  body  at  once  in  a  high  degree  solid  and  transparent,  which  would  admit  the  light  of  the  sun  and  exclude  the  violence  of  the  wind, 
which  might  extend  the  sight  of  the  philosopher  to  new  ranges  of  existence,  and  charm  him  at  one  time  with  the  unbounded  extent  of 
the  material  creatipn  and  at  another  with  the  endless  subordination  of  animal  life,  and,  what  is  yet  of  more  importance,  might  supply 
the  decay  of  nature  and  succor  old  age  with  subsidiary  sight.  Thus  was  the  first  artificer  of  glass  employed,  though  without  his  own 
knowledge  or  expectation.  He  was  facilitating  and  prolonging  the  enjoyments  of  light,  enlarging  the  avenues  of  science,  and  conferring 
the  highest  and  most  lasting  pleasures,  and  was  enabling  the  student  to  contemplate  nature,  and  the  beauty  to  behold  herself,  (c) 

ANALYSES  OF  GLASS. — In  the  accompanying  tables  will  be  found  analyses  of  plate-,  window-,  flint-,  and  bottle- 


a  One  of  the  problems  regarding  glass  alleged  to  have  been  asked  by  Aristotle  was,  "Why  is  glass  not  malleablef "  The  statements 
. ri(.,it  malleable  glass  may  be  regarded  as  fables. 

ft  This  is  strictly  true  of  glass  only  under  circumstances  of  ordinary  use.  All  glass  is  affected  by  caustic  alkalies,  especially  iii 
concentrated  solutions,  as  it  is  thus  deprived  of  silicic  acid.  The  action  of  mineral  acids  upon  well-compounded  glass  is  less  energetic, 
though  not  only  such  acids,  hut  even  pure  water,  exerts  a  decomposing  influence  upon  glass,  producing  its  effect,  however,  very  slowly 
under  ordinary  circumstances. 

c  Ramller,  No.  IX. 
1060 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


23 


ANALYSES  OF  PLATE-GLASS. 


Kinds  of  glass. 

Analysts. 

Silica. 

Soda. 

Potash. 

Lime. 

Magnesia. 

Manganese. 

Sesnoioxide 
of  iron. 

Alnmina. 

French  : 

Peligot  

73.00 

11.50 

15.50 

73.05 

11  79 

15  10 

75.90 

17.50 

3.80 

2.80 

Do 

.  ..do  

73.80 

12.10 

5.50 

5.60 

3.50 

English  : 

Ch          ' 

Benrath   .  

70.71 

33.25 

13  38 

1 

92 

do  

72.90 

12.45 

13  26 

1 

93 

Mayer  and  Brazier  

77.36 

13.06 

3.01 

5.31 

0.91 

....do  

78.68 

11.36 

1.34 

6.09 

Trace. 

2.68 

Belgian  : 

Bt-m'ath  

73.31 

13.00 

13.34 

0. 

83 

Jaeckel  

72.31 

11.42 

14.96 

0.81 

73.79 

13.94 

0  60 

8.61 

0  12 

0  32 

0  68 

0  58 

Berthler  

68.60 

8.10 

6.90 

1L  00 

2.10 

0  10 

0  20 

L20 

ANALYSES  OF  WINDOW-GLASS. 


Kinds  of  glass. 

Analysts. 

Silica. 

Soda. 

Lime. 

Alumina. 

Sesqnioiido 
of  iron. 

Dumas  ..  ..  .  . 

68.00 

10.30 

14.30 

7.60 

Do 

do 

69  65 

15  22 

13  31 

1  82 

English                               

....do  

69  00 

11  10 

12.50 

7.40 

71  40 

15.00 

12.40 

0  60 

Benrath  

71  27 

20  10 

8.14 

J. 

98 

ANALYSES  OF  FLINT-GLASS. 


Kinds  of  glass. 

Analysts. 

Silica. 

Soda. 

Potash. 

Lime. 

Lead. 

Mag- 
nesia. 

Manga- 
nese. 

Sesqni- 
oxide of 
iron. 

Alumina. 

yjlfR  GLASS. 

72.10 

12.40 

15.50 

Do                                             

do  

16.30 

6.40 

Berthier  

69.20 

3  00 

15  80 

7  60 

2.00 

0.50 

1.20 

73.13 

3.07 

11  49 

10  43 

0.26 

0.46 

0.13 

0.30 

Berthier 

7L70 

2.50 

12.70 

10  30 

0  20 

0.30 

0  40 

69  40 

11  80 

9  20 

9  60 

American  O'Hara  Glass  Company,  Pittsburgh  .  .  . 

De  Branner  

71.92 

14.55 

5.14 

2.04 

Trace. 

Trace. 

8.22 

LEAD  GLASS. 

51.93 

13.87 

33  28 

Berthier  

59.20 

9  00 

28.20 

0.40 

Do             

Salvetat  

57.50 

1  00 

9  00 

32.50 

Berthier  

51.40 

9.40 

37.40 

0.80 

1.20 

48  10 

12.50 

0  60 

38.00 

0  50 

Do 

Sal  vf  tat  

51.00 

1  70 

7  60 

38.30 

1. 

30 

Do 

...do  ... 

54.20 

0.90 

9.20 

34  60 

0. 

50 

Do 

Benrath 

50  18 

11  62 

38.11 

0 

40 

44  30 

11.75 

43  05 

Do 

42  50 

11  70 

0  50 

43.50 

1  80 

53.98 

6.71 

7.60 

29.78 

1. 

93 

Do 

do 

54.12 

5  58 

7  98 

31  27 

1 

05 

ANALYSES  OF  BOTTLE-GLASS. 


Kinds  of  glass. 

Analysts. 

Silica. 

Soda, 

Potash. 

Lime. 

Magnesia. 

Manga- 
nese. 

Sesqni- 
oxide of 
iron. 

Alumina. 

Trench  : 

Berthier 

60.00 
60.40 
59.60 
53.55 
45.60 
58.40 
62.21 
63.34 

69.82 
62.78 
64.41 

65.77 

68.38 

22.30 
20.70 
18.00 
29.22 
28.10 
18.60 
22.93 
21.34 

7.82 
6.11 
5.81 

16.58 
10.19 

1.20 

4.00 

ago 

4.40 
5.74 
6.20 
8.90 
6.10 
4.42 

8.08 
10.40 

6.80 
6.01 
14.00 
2.10 
1.16 
4.72 

3. 
3. 

10 
20 
3.20 
5.48 
6.10 
1.80 
1.91 
2.10 

1.50 
11.24 
10.50 

.  do 

0.60 
7.00 

do    

0.40 

Dumas  

Clichy  

...do  

9.90 
5.C9 
4.17 

18.28 
19.14 

15.76 

Do 

do    . 

Do  

do     

German  

Do       

do 

2.  SO 

0.73 
3.52 

5.90 
2.40 

Do  

do          

Russian       

....do  

11.75 
19.03 

Do  

do 

1061 


24  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


CHAPTER  III.— SAND. 


DIFFERENT  PROPORTIONS  OF  SILICA  IN  GLASS. — The  chief  constituent  of  glass,  as  well  as  the  only  one  that 
enters  into  the  composition  of  all  its  varieties,  is  silica.  Though  present  in  all  glass,  its  relative  proportion  differs 
greatly,  not  only  in  the  several  varieties,  but  in  different  samples  of  the  same  variety,  and  sometimes  in  different 
specimens  from  the  same  pot  or  "melting".  Indeed,  as  to  its  content,  not  only  of  silica,  but  of  other  ingredients, 
glass  is  a  most  capricious  substance. 

SILICA  IN  DIFFERENT  KINDS  OF  GLASS. — Lead  glass  contains  the  least  percentage  of  silica,  ranging  from 
42  to  GO  per  cent.,  and  cast-plate  contains  the  greatest  percentage,  some  analyses  showing  as  high  as  79  per  cent.,  the 
average  being  about  74  per  cent.  Window-glass  averages  about  70  per  cent.,  lime-glass  72  per  cent.,  and  green 
bottle  glass  60  per  cent. 

HARDNESS. — The  hardness  of  glass  depends,  as  a  rule,  on  the  percentage  of  silica  it  contains,  though  it 
is  somewhat  affected  by  the  alkali  or  oxide  used  as  a  base.  Lead,  for  example,  tends  to  make  glass  softer  and  more 
fusible  and  lustrous,  while  lime  renders  it  refractory  and  less  susceptible  to  the  action  of  acids  and  alkalies.  The 
relative  hardness  of  different  specimens  of  either  lead  or  lime  glass  depends,  however,  on  the  amount  of  silica,  that 
being  the  harder  and  less  liable  to  melt  which  has  the  most.  It  would  follow,  from  what  has  been  said,  that  green 
glass  is  the  hardest,  followed  in  their  order  by  lime-flint  glass,  window-glass,  plate,  and,  lastly,  lead  glass,  which  ie 
the  softest. 

FORMS  OF  SILICA  USED. — Silica  is  now  used  in  glass-making  almost  universally  in  the  form  of  sand.  This 
also  seems  to  have  been  the  practice  at  the  earlier  glass  houses,  (a)  In  modern  glass  houses,  however,  until  some 
fifty  years  since,  silica  for  the  finer  grades<of  glass  was  procured  by  an  expensive  process  of  crushing  and  washing 
flint  (b)  and  quartz.  This  process  is  still  used  to  some  extent,  especially  in  those  districts  where  good  sand  either 
cannot  be  obtained  or  is  too  expensive  to  permit  of  its  use.  Bohemian  glass,  for  example,  is  made  almost  entirely 
from  quartz  so  prepared.  In  some  parts  of  Germany  and  Austria,  especially  in  the  making  of  bottles,  certair 
siliceous  rocks,  as  basalt  and  trachyte,  containing  large  percentages  of  soda  and  potash,  are  used,  but  at  the 
present  time,  and  for  many  years,  sand  has  supplied  most  of  the  silica  used  in  glass.  Sand  is  generally  less 
expensive,  and  in  many  cases  is  of  greater  purity  and  value  as  a  material,  glass  made  from  many  native  sands 
being  superior  in  every  respect  to  that  made  from  the  artificially-prepared  flint  and  quartz  sands,  (c) 

USES  OF  THE  DIFFERENT  GRADES. — For  the  finer  grades  of  glass,  especially  where  freedom  from  color,  perfect 
transparency,  and  great  brilliancy  are  essential,  only  the  purest  qualities  of  sand  can  be  used,  as  slight  impurities, 
especially  small  amounts  of  iron,  will  seriously  impair  all  of  these  desirable  properties.  When,  however,  color  is 
secondary  to  cheapness  of  production,  as  in  the  manufacture  of  green  bottles,  sands  with  considerable  iron  and 
clay  are  not  only  used,  but  in  some  cases  are  preferred,  as  these  materials  are  fluxes,  and  consequently  require  less 
flux  in  the  "  batch  "  or  mixture  of  materials. 

IMPURITIES  AND  THEIR  REMOVAL. — The  chief  impurities  in  sand  are  oxide  of  iron,  alumina,  generally  in  the 
form  of  clay,  loam,  gravel,  and  organic  matter.  Most  of  these  can  be  removed  by  burning  and  washing,  (d)  but  the 
iron  and  part  of  the  organic  matter  can  only  be  removed  or  neutralized  by  the  use  of  chemicals.  Of  these  impurities 
iron  is  by  far  the  most  dreaded,  as  it  not  only  destroys  the  "color",  the  limpid  whiteness  of  the  glass,  giving  it  a 
greenish  cast,  but  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  remove  or  neutralize  its  effect.  Manganese  is  used  to  correct  this 

a  This  is  not  universally  tine.  Agricola  says,  in  Book  XII  of  De  Re  Metallica,  that  "white  stones,  when  melted,  are  the  best  ingredients 
for  glass".  Pliny  states  that  "  of  white  stones  very  transparent  glass  is  made". 

6  From  this  use  of  flint  in  its  composition  is  derived  the  term  "flint-glass". 

c  As  showing  what  but  a  few  years  ago  was  regarded  as  nearly  pure  sand,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  Dr.  Lardner,  in  his  Cabinet 
Cyclopiedia,  London  1832,  article,  "Porcelain  and  Glass,"  page  28,  gives  an  analysis  of  flint  which  he  terms  "silica  in  a  state  nearly 
approaching  to  purity  ".  This  flint  contained  98  per  cent,  of  silica  and  0. 25  per  cent,  of  iron.  Compared  with  the  Berkshire  sand,  which 
contains  99.78  per  cent,  of  silica  and  virtually  no  iron,  this  flint  was  very  impure  silica. 

d  Burning  is  necessary  where  the  sand  contains  much  organic  matter.  Generally  the  heat  of  the  furnace  in  the  melting  of  glass  is 
sufficient,  the  carbonized  matter  being  carried  away  as  carbonic  acid  by  the  aid  of  arsenic.  In  washing  the  sand  to  remove  the  clay,  gravel, 
loam,  and  similar  impurities,  it  is  first  crushed  and  pulverized,  if  necessary.  The  pulverizer  used  at  some  of  the  works  of  this  country  is 
the  well-known  ore-mill  of  the  rolling-mills,  which  consists  of  a  large  circular  pan,  in  which  revolve,  like  wagon-wheels,  two  large  cast-iron 
wheels  four  feet  in  diameter.  Running  water  pouring  into  the  pan  facilitates  the  grinding  and  carries  the  sand  to  a  sieve,  where  the 
larger  pieces  and  the  gravel  are  separated.  The  sieve  is  cylindrical  or  octagonal,  made  of  brass  wire,  about  three  feet  in  length  and  a 
foot  and  a  half  in  diameter,  and  revolves  like  a  flour-bolting  machine.  After  passing  through  the  sieve  the  sand  is  carried  along  a  trougk 
by  water  into  the  washer,  where  it  settles  to  the  bottom  of  the  box,  while  the  water  "wastes"  over  the  top,  carrying  away  the  clay  and 
loam.  The  sand  is  then  elevated  and  discharged  into  another  trough  at  a  higher  level,  where  it  is  again  washed.  Sometimes  this 
operation  is  repeated  several  times.  The  sand  is  finally  carried  to  the  draining-room,  where  it  is  drained  of  water,  and  then  to  the 
drying-room,  where  it  is  dried  by  artificial  heat.  As  the  sand  dries  it  drops  into  a  funnel-shaped  trough,  and  from  that  passes  into  a 
n  nveyer,  and  thence  to  an  elevator.  The  sand  comes  from  the  drier  fine  and  almost  as  white  as  flour. 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  25 

greenish  color,  and  is  often  termed  " glass- maker's  soap",  but  glass  so  decolorized  is  liable  under  the  action  ot 
sunlight  to  acquire  a  purplish  tint  or  "high  color".  Window-glass  in  which  manganese  has  been  used  often 
assumes  this  tint  to  such  an  extent  as  to  lead  to  the  belief  that  it  was  originally  colored.  The  only  safeguard 
against  this  "high  color"  is  the  use  of  sand  containing  little  or  no  iron,  and  therefore  not  requiring  any 
"  doctoring"  of  the  batch,  (a)  As  to  the  amount  of  iron  allowable  in  sand  for  glass-making,  it  may  be  said  that  that 
containing  more  than  one-half  of  one  per  cent,  is  not  considered  suitable  for  any  glass,  while  for  plate-  and  window- 
glass  and  the  finer  grades  of  table  ware  the  less  the  amount  of  iron  the  better.  That  used  at  the  table-glass  houses 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Pittsburgh  and  near  Boston  contains  only  a  trace  of  iron. 

USE  OF  ARSENIC.— The  organic  matter  which  carbonizes  in  the  pot  during  the  melting  of  the  glass  materials 
is  removed  as  carbonic  acid  by  the  use  of  arsenic,  which  is  the  great  "  decarbonizer"  in  glass-making,  as  manganese 
is  the  "  decolorizer  ".  The  arsenic  is  added  to  the  batch  prior  to  charging  it  into  the  pots. 

TESTS  OF  SAND. — In  examining  sand  as  to  its  value  for  glass-making  the  best  test  is  microscopic  examination. 
Sand  should  be  perfectly  white,  not  very  fine,  uniform,  even  grained,  with  angular  rather  than  rounded  grains. 
Sand  which  is  very  fine,  or  the  grains  of  which  are  smooth  and  rounded,  can  only  be  used  with  difficulty  and  great 
uncertainty  as  to  the  result.  Such  sand  is  liable  to  settle  to  the  bottom  of  the  batch,  preventing  an  even  mixture, 
of  the  materials  and  producing  an  uneven  glass.  Sand  should  not  effervesce  or  lose  color  when  heated  with  an 
acid,  as  loss  of  color  indicates  the  presence  of  clay,  loam,  or  other  foreign  substances,  while  effervescence  indicates 
the  presence  of  lime.  Oxide  of  iron  can  be  discovered  by  boiling  the  sand  in  hydrofluoric  acid  and  dropping  into 
the  solution  thus  formed  a  few  drops  of  yellow  prussiate  of  potash  in  solution.  The  beautiful  blue  precipitate 
indicates  the  presence  of  iron,  even  in  the  most  minute  quantities. 

ANALYSIS  AND  COLOR  NOT  ALWAYS  INDICATIVE  OF  THE  QUALITY  OF  SAND. — These  are  simple,  qualitative 
tests,  but  only  indicate  in  a  general  way  the  quality  of  the  impurities  present.  For  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
quantity  a  quantitative  analysis  is  necessary.  It  should,  however,  be  noted  that  while  such  an  analysis,  aided  by  the 
appearance  and  color  of  the  sand,  indicates  in  some  measure  its  purity  and  value,  it  is  by  no  means  conclusive  as 
to  its  adaptability  for  glass-making,  as  a  sand  of  a  yellowish  tint  may  be  purer  than  one  much  whiter.  Mr.  Henry 
Chance,  of  Birmingham,  England,  whose  tyro  papers  on  crown  and  sheet  glass  are  the  best  in  the  language,  speaking 
of  color  and  analysis  as  indications  of  purity  and  value,  says: 

The  sand  used  by  our  firm  is  obtained  from  Leighton  Buzzard,  and,  although  of  a  yellowish  tint,  is  more  free  from  irou  than  many 
kinds  of  sand  which  are  whiter  in  appearance.  The  whiteness  of  a  sand  is  a  very  uncertain  test  of  its  purity.  Again,  two  kinds  of  sand 
which  are  shown  by  analysis  to  be  precisely  similar  in  their  composition  may  produce  different  results  as  regards  both  color  and  quality 
•f  glass.  (6) 

Mr.  Chance  suggests  that  this  may  be  due  to  a  difference  in  the  power  of  the  sands,  arising  from  the  condition 
in  which  the  silica  exists,  to  neutralize  the  bases. 

MODE  OF  OCCURRENCE  OF  SAND. — Most  of  the  sand  used  in  glass-making  occurs  as  sandstone,  and  is  quarried 
in  blocks,  and  must  be  crushed  and  prepared  for  use.  The  Fontainebleau  (France)  sand  and  some  of  the  Berkshire 
(Massachusetts)  and  Juniata  (Pennsylvania)  sands  are  of  this  character.  In  other  cases,  while  the  sand  occurs 
as  rock  and  must  be  quarried,  it  rapidly  disintegrates  on  exposure  to  air  and  moisture,  as  at  some  of  the  Juniata 
(Pennsylvania)  mines.  At  other  quarries,  where  the  formation  is  saccharoidal  or  sngar-like,  the  sand-rock  has  a 
very  weak  bond,  and  is  readily  detached  from  place  with  a  pick,  rapidly  falling  into  fine  sand.  This  is  the  nature 
of  the  sand  at  Crystal  City,  Missouri,  and  at  some  of  the  Berkshire  (Massachusetts)  mines. 

SEA  OR  RIVER  SAND. — While  most  of  the  sand  used  is  quarried  or  mined,  some  glass  is  still  made,  as  was  the 
earliest  glass,  from  river  or  sea  sand.  As  a  rule,  however,  this  is  only  employed  for  the  coarser  and  cheaper  kinds. 

IMPORTANCE  OF  GOOD  SAND. — The  quality  of  the  sand  has  always  been  an  item  of  great  importance  to  glass 
manufacturers,  and  the  possession  of  a  pure  sand  well  adapted  to  glass-making  has  determined  in  many  cases 
the  location  and  successful  operation  of  the  glass  houses,  not  only  of  antiquity,  but  of  modern  times.  The  sand 
used  in  the  earliest  glass  works  was  river  or  sea  sand,  and  these  ancient  factories  were,  therefore,  generally 
placed  at  the  mouths  of  rivers,  as  at  Belus,  Alexandria,  Cumes,  and  Volterno.  These  locations  were  selected,  not 
only  because  they  furnished  an  abundance  of  good  sand,  but  because  they  were  the  great  doorways  of  commerce, 
and  offered  a  ready  market  for  the  products  of  the  glass-makers'  art. 

SAND  FROM  THE  RIVER  BELUS. — The  most  remarkable  and  widely-used  deposit  of  glass  sand  known  to  the 
ancient  world,  as  well  as  the  purest,  was  that  of  the  river  Belus,  which  flows  from  Mount  Carmel  and  enters  the  sea 
near  Tyre  and  Sidon,the  sand  made  famous  by  Pliny's  oft-repeated  fable  of  the  discovery  of  glass.  Not  only  was 
glass  made  in  great  quantities  from  this  sand  by  the  skillful  Sidonians  (c) — the  lovely  Greek  and  other  vases,  the 
raried  beads  and  amulets  found  in  the  tombs  so  thickly  scattered  over  every  shore  "washed  by  the  Mediterranean 

a  For  the  results  of  a  most  ingenious  and  long-continued  series  of  experiments  ou  the  action  of  sunlight  on  glass  those  interested 
are  referred  to  the  monographs  of  Mr.  Thos.  Gaffield,  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  especially  to  his  paper  on  "The  Action  of  Sunlight  on 
Glass",  read  before  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  at  Boston  iu  1880. 

b  On  the  Manufacture  of  Glaus.  A  lecture  delivered  before  the  members  of  the  Chemical  Society,  March  19,  1868,  by  Henry 
Chance,  M.  A.  London.  Harrisons  &  Sons:  l?ti-. 

c  Homer  ascribes  every  object  of  art  or  ornament  to  the  skill  or  genius  of  a  god  or  a  Sidonian. 

1063 


26  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

sea  » — but  many  of  the  glass  works  of  other  countries  drew  their  supplies  of  sand  for  their  best  glass  from  this  river 
of  the  Phoenicians.  The  Venetian  glass  works  sent  boats  thither  in  the  days  of  their  greatest  renown  to  collect 
sand  for  the  factories  of  Venice  and  Murano,  and  it  is  more  than  probable  that  the  brilliant  mosaics  of  Saint  Mark, 
and  the  delicate  and  precious  vases  and  wares  that  have  reflected  so  much  honor  upon  Venetian  glass,  owe  some 
of  their  marvelous  color  and  beauty  to  the  purity  of  the  Phoenician  sand ;  indeed,  it  was  believed  at  one  time 
that  it  was  the  only  sand  that  could  be  vitrified,  (a) 

OTHER  RIVER  AND  SEA  SANDS. — The  sands  from  the  banks  and  coasts  of  other  rivers  and  seas  were  also  used 
largely  in  the  ancient  glass-houses.  Those  of  Egypt  used  Nile  sand ;  the  Volterno  and  the  rivers  of  Gaul  and 
Spain  furnished  sand  for  the  glass  made  on  their  banks,  while  in  latter  times  the  Tyne,  in  England,  has  been  a 
source  of  supply  for  the  bottle  houses  of  that  district.  Pliny  mentions  that  in  his  time  a  fine  white  sand  was  found 
on  the  shore  between  Cumae  and  Liternum  which  produced  "  vitrum  purum  ac  massa  vitri  candidi".  He  adds  that 
in  Gaul  and  Spain  sand  was  similarly  used. 

EARLY  USE  OP  FLINT  AND  QUARTZ. — Though  sea  and  river  sand  was  thus  the  earliest  form  of  silica  used  in 
the  manufacture  of  glass,  flint  and  quartz  were  employed  at  least  before  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era.  Pliny 
states  that  glass  of  the  most  excellent  quality  was  made  in  India  from  white  stones.  If  any  glass  was  made  in 
India  in  Pliny's  time,  the  use  of  quartz  was  probably  exceptional,  as  most  of  the  glass  of  that  time  and  for  some 
centuries  after  was  made  from  native  sand.  From  the  fourteenth  to  the  nineteenth  century,  however,  it  was  made 
from  flint  or  quartz.  Agricola,  who  wrote  in  the  sixteenth  century,  declares  that  white  stones  make  the  best  glass, 
and  should  only  be  employed  in  the  manufacture  of  crystal.  Neri,  who  wrote  in  the  seventeenth  century,  notes : 

That  those  stones  which  strike  fire  with  a  steel  are  fit  to  vitrify,  and  those  which  strike  not  fire  with  a  steel  will  never  vitrify ; 
which  serves  for  advice  to  know  the  stones  that  may  be  transmuted  from  those  that  will  not  be  transmuted  into  glass. 

Blancourt,  who  wrote  at  the  close  of  the  same  century,  states  that  the  Venetians  make  use  of  a  white  flint 
from  the  river  "  Ticinus,  where  there  is  a  great  abundance  of  them  ;  as  also  in  the  river  Arnus,  both  above  and 
below  Florence,  and  in  other  places".  He  also  mentions  the  use  of  a  hard  white  marble  which  is  found  in  Tuscany, 
and  gives  directions  that  "that  ought  to  be  chosen  out  which  is  very  white,  which  has  no  black  veins,  nor  yellow 
nor  red  stains  in  it". 

Ferrandus  Imperatus  makes  mention  of  a  glass  stone  called  "quoeali",  "like  in  appearance  to  white  marble, 
being  somewhat  transparent,  but  hard  as  flint,  and  put  into  the  fire  it  turns  not  to  lime.  It  is  of  a  light  green, 
like  a  serpentine  stone,  and  having  veins  like  Venice  talc.  This  being  cast  into  the  fire,  ceases  to  be  transparent, 
and  becomes  white  and  more  light,  and  at  length  is  converted  into  glass." 

When  Blancourt  wrote,  sand  was  displacing  flint,  a  degeneracy  in  the  art  of  glass-making  which  he  laments 
"  Nothing,"  he  says,  "  but  the  Parcimony  and  Covetousness  of  the  times  has  brought  sand  into  use  again,  because 
•glasses  made  of  that  may  be  afforded  cheaper." 

SUPERIORITY  OF  AMERICAN  SAND. — As  has  already  been  stated,  sand  is  almost  universally  used  in  the  glass 
houses  of  to-day,  quartz  or  flint  being  used  only  when  good  sand  cannot  be  readily  obtained.  The  superiority  of 
the  deposits  of  glass  sand  in  the  United  States  is  universally  conceded.  At  the  London  exposition  of  1851  Messrs. 
Thomas  Webb  &  Son,  of  Stourbridge,  England,  exhibited  some  glass  of  remarkable  beauty  and  transparency 
made  from  Berkshire  (Massachusetts)  sand.  They  write  me  regarding  this  sand  :  "It  was  the  finest  we  have  ever 
used  ".  Bontemps,  whose  eminence  as  an  authority  on  all  matters  pertaining  to  glass  cannot  be  questioned,  in  his 
report  to  the  English  government  on  the  Paris  exposition  of  1855  states  that  a  "  magnificent  sample  of  English  flint- 
glaas",  Osier's  candelabrum,  the  glass  of  which  he  asserts  to  be  far  superior  to  that  of  any  other  exhibitor,  "  was 
made  with  American  sand."  (6)  In  his  Guide  du  Verrier,  one  of  the  best  works  on  glass  in  any  language,  M. 
Bontemps  also  several  times  speaks  of  American  sand  as  superior  to  the  best  French,  (c)  Mr.  Henry  Chance,  in  a 
lecture  on  glass,  speaks  of  American  sand  as  the  "  finest  of  all",  and  states  that  the  best  flint-glass  exhibited  at 
the  Paris  exposition  of  1867,  that  of  Messrs.  Copeland,  of  Stourbridge,  "  surpassing  in  purity  of  color  all  other 
specimens  of  glass,  whether  British  or  foreign,  (d)  was  made  from  American  sand."  But  little  of  this  sand,  however, 
has  been  used  in  England.  The  great  expense  of  importing,  and  the  discovery  of  the  excellent  German  sands, 
which  are  referred  to  on  page  27,  which  can  be  supplied  to  the  English  glass  works  at  a  much  less  cost,  have 
interfered  with  the  use  of  the  American  sand. 

ENGLISH  SAND. — But  little  sand  suitable  for  the  finest  grades  of  glass,  such  as  plate-glass  and  the  lead  flint, 
is  found  in  Great  Britain.  One  of  the  earliest  used  in  modern  times  in  England  was  obtained  from  the 
commons  near  Lynn,  in  Norfolk,  and  was  used  by  the  manufacturers  of  the  north  and  the  midlands  for  many  years. 
This  was  displaced  by  sand  from  Alum  bay,  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  which  furnished  for  fifty  years  most  ol  the  silica 
used  for  flint-glass.  An  analysis  of  this  sand  shows  only  97  per  cent,  of  silica,  2  per  cent,  of  alumina,  magnesia, 
and  oxide  of  iron,  and  1  per  cent,  of  moisture.  Stony  Stratford,  Aylesbury,  Eeigate,  and  Hastings  have 

a  See  Strabo  Geography,  Book  XVI. 

6  Reports  on.  the  Paris  Universal  Exposition,  Part  II,  Report  on  Glass,  by  G.  Bontemps,  pages  384  and  385.     London,  1856. 
c  See  Guide  du  terrier,  G.  Bontemps,  pages  40  and  532.    Paris,  18(58. 
d  On  the  Manufacture  of  Glass,  by  Henry  Chance,  page  3. 
1064 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  27 

contributed  sand  to  the  English  glass  houses  at  different  periods,  and  perhaps  the  best  England  has  produced, 
except  the  Alum  Bay  variety,  was  that  from  Hastings ;  but  an  unfortunate  advance  in  price  drove  the  trade  to 
France,  which  at  that  time  took  off  its  export  duty,  and  so  opened  the  markets  of  England  to  the  French  sand,  (a) 

SAND  FOR  ENGLISH  PLATE-,  WINDOW-,  AND  FLINT-GLASS. — The  makers  of  the  best  flint-glass  now  use  the 
French  and  German  sands  exclusively.  The  magnificent  exhibit  at  the  Paris  exhibition  of  1878  of  Thomas  Webb 
&  Son,  of  Stourbridge,  was  made  from  these  sands.  Some  of  the  manufacturers  of  plate-glass  use  Belgian  sand; 
others  the  sand  which  is  found  in  large  quantities  in  Lancashire.  (6)  Messrs.  Pilkiugton  Bros.,  the  large  makers 
of  blown  window-glass  at  St.  Helen's,  use  the  Lancashire  sand.  Messrs.  Chance,  of  Birmingham,  obtain  the  sand 
for  most  of  their  glass  from  Leigh  ton  Buzzard,  about  40  miles  north  of  London;  but  for  their  optical  glass,  which 
is  very  noted,  they  use  French  sand.  Most  of  the  English  sand  requires  washing.  A  fair  average  analysis  of  the 
Leighton  Buzzard  sand,  which  may  also  be  regarded  as  showing  the  composition  of  the  Lancashire,  is  99  per  cent, 
of  silica,  0.30  per  cent,  of  alumina,  0.20  per  cent,  of  carbonate  of  lime,  and  0.50  per  cent,  of  oxide  of  iron.  Large 
deposits  of  sand  are  found  in  Wales  as  sandstone,  but  the  glass  produced  from  it  does  not  seem  to  be  good  in 
quality  or  in  color. 

SAND  FOE  BOTTLE-GLASS. — Kegarding  sand  for  the  English  bottle  works,  Ure  states  that — 

The  laws  of  this  country  (England)  till  lately  prohibited  the  use  for  making  common  bottles  of  any  fine  materials.  Nothing  but 
the  common  river  sand  and  soap-boilers'  waste  (manganese)  was  allowed,  (c) 

As  to  the  present  practice,  Mr.  Chance  writes  : 

I  believe  that  bottle-glass  makers,  color  being  a  matter  of  minor  importance,  use  whatever  sand  of  a  suitable  character  may  be  nearest 
to  their  works.  Or,  to  pnt  it  in  another  form,  a  bottle-glass  maker  will  place  his  works  where  he  can  have  his  sand  and  other  materials  as 
near  at  hand  as  possible. 

FRENCH  SAND. — Of  the  French  sands,  that  taken  as  sandstone  from  the  quarries  in  the  forests  of  Fontainebleau 
is  the  best  and  the  most  widely  used.  Much  of  the  finest  glass  of  England  and  Belgium,  and,  until  recently,  of 
Germany,  is  made  from  it,  and  it  is  to  its  purity  that  the  beautiful  color  of  the  French  and  Belgian  plate-glass 
is  attributed.  One  analysis  shows:  silica,  98.8  per  cent.;  magnesia  and  oxide  of  iron,  0.7  per  cent.;  moisture, 
0.5  per  cent.  Another,  and  one  that  Mr.  Henry  Chance  regards  as  an  average  analysis,  shows :  silica,  99  per  cent. ; 
alumina,  0.50  per  cent. ;  carbonate  of  lime,  0.50  per  cent. ;  oxide  of  iron,  trace.  Sand  from  the  quarries  in  the 
forest  of  Compiegne,  and  also  from  the  vicinity  of  Nemours,  is  largely  nsed,  and  is  stated  to  be  "  almost  chemically 
pure  and  scarcely  inferior  to  that  imported  at  great  cost  from  the  United  States ".  (d)  In  the  south  of  France 
prepared  quartz  is  still  used,  (e)  The  same  statement  as  to  sand  for  bottle-glass  made  in  connection  with  English 
sand  will  apply  to  the  French  bottle  houses  as  well.  French  manufacturers  of  this  kind  of  glass  locate  their  works 
where  the  materials  are  the  cheapest,  without  reference  to  the  purity  of  the  sand,  (e) 

BELGIAN  SAND. — Concerning  Belgian  sand  but  little  has  been  learned.  Bon  temps  mentions  a  locality  near 
Namur  which  he  classes  with  the  French  sands  of  Fontainebleau,  Compiegne,  and  Nemours.  (/)  While  the  quality 
of  the  Belgian  sand  is  on  the  whole  good,  it  does  not  equal  the  French,  and  as  a  result  considerable  of  the  latter 
sand  is  used  in  the  Belgian  works. 

GERMAN  SAND. — For  many  years  the  best  German  glass  was  made  either  from  French  sand  or  prepared  quartz 
and  flint.  Certain  glass  works  on  the  Bohemian  border  still  use  the  prepared  quartz  or  flint  for  making  window- 
glass  and  a  good  white  glass  for  table  ware,  and  a  few,  by  reason  of  shorter  and  cheaper  carriage,  still  draw  their 
supplies  from  France.  All  the  other  works,  with  the  exception  of  certain  bottle  houses,  use  German  sand. 

BEST  GERMAN  SANDS. — The  sand  for  the  plate-glass,  window-glass,  and  the  glassware  houses  of  Germany 
comes  chiefly  from  two  very  extensive  deposits,  one  at  Herzogenrath,  near  Aix-la-Chapelle,  and  the  other  in  the 
Niederlausitz,  near  Hoheubocka,  in  the  province  of  Brandenburg,  in  Prussia.  These  sands  are  exceedingly  pure, 
one  rivaling  the  Berkshire  (Massachusetts)  sands,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  analyses  on  page  34. 

a  A  recent  English  journal  contains  the  approximate  dates  at  which  these  several  deposits  of  sand  became  available. 

Lynn 1750 

Alum  bay 1820 

Aylesbury 1835 

Stony  Stratford 1835 

Eeigate 1S35 

Hastings 1&56 

Brooklyn *1851 

Fontainebleau  (France) 1860 

It  further  remarks  that  it  is  more  than  probable  that  some  of  the  northern  manufacturers  on  the  Tyne  and  Wear  used  sea-borne  sand 
at  the  earliest  period  of  glass-making.     "It  is  possible  that  Venice  may  have  sent  ns  a  supply  when  she  sent  us  her  glass-makers." 

6  For  this  and  the  following  facts  regarding  the  sand  used  by  English  glass-makers  I  am  indebted  to  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Henry 
Chance,  who  has  written  to  me  very  fully  on  this  subject. 

o  Ure's  Dictionary,  vol.  1,  page  925.    New  York,  1854. 

d  Bontemps'  Report  on  the  Exhibition  of  1855,  page  385. 

e  See  Bontemps'  Guide  du  Verrier,  page  48. 

/  Idem.,  page  46. 


28  MANUFACTUEE  OF  GLASS. 

HEEZOGENRATH  SAND. 

Per  cent. 

Silicicaoid 99.24 

Alumina 0.20 

Lime 0-053 

Magnesia 0.033 

Oxide  of  iron 0.005 

Water 0.469 

HOHENBOCKA  SAND. 

[Analysis  by  Bischof.] 

Per  cent. 

Silicic  acid • 99.760 

Alumina 0.040 

Lime 0.011 

Magnesia 0.012 

Oxide  of  iron 0.055 

Oxide  manganese 0. 015 

Potassium 0.039 

Loss  by  ignition 0. 240 

Some  of  the  German  flint-glass  works  still  use  the  Fontainebleau  sand,  and  a  few  window-glass  and  lamp- 
chimney  works,  especially  in  Silesia  and  Westphalia,  find  it  more  profitable  to  use  a  white  sand  found  near  their 
works ;  bnt  most  of  the  German  glass,  with  the  exception  of  green  glass,  is  made  from  sand  from  the  two  deposits 
of  which  analyses  are  given  above. 

USE  OP  ALKALINE  ROCKS  FOB  BOTTLE-GLASS. — For  bottle -glass  the  same  conditions  hold  as  noted  before, 
only  the  German  bottle-glass  makers  endeavor  to  find  material  containing  as  much  alkali  as  possible.  Mr.  Julius 
Fahdt,  the  editor  of  Die  Olashutte.  Dresden,  to  whose  courtesy  I  am  indebted  for  much  of  the  information 
regarding  German  sand,  writes  regarding  the  siliceous  material  used  in  bottle  works : 

The  most  favorable  deposits  are  of  thanolite,  found  on  the  frontiers  of  Bohemia,  on  the  banks  of  the  Elbe  ;  granite  is  also  used,  and 
is  found  frequently  with  5  per  cent,  of  alkalies  (potassium  and  sodium) ;  basalt,  fluor-spar,  and  trachyte  are  used.  Granite  and  trachyte  are 
calcined  and  ground ;  basalt,  fluor-spar,  and  thanolite  are  not  calcined.  Sometimes  for  light-colored  glass  a  small  proportion  of  white 
sand  is  used. 

Mr.  Friederich  Siemens,  who,  in  addition  to  his  well-known  scientific  attainments,  is  the  largest  manufacturer 
of  b  ottles  in  Germany,  if  not  in  the  world,  writes  as  follows  regarding  the  use  of  these  rocks  : 

For  common  green  bottle-glass  the  German  and  Austrian  glass-makers  use  natural  stones,  such  as  granite,  feldspar,  basalt,  thanolite, 
and  trachyte.  These  rocks,  containing  a  certain  quantity  of  alkali,  with  65  to  75  per  cent,  of  silica,  are  a  most  valuable  material,  being 
both  cheap  and  fusible.  I  began  the  use  of  these  rocks  for  making  bottle-glass  at  the  time  of  the  introduction  of  my  continuous  glass- 
melting  tanks,  some  ten  years  ago,  and  other  glass-makers  very  soon  adopted  my  method  of  making  glass  from  these  rocks. 

The  success  that  has  attended  the  use  of  these  alkaline  rocks  in  Germany  and  Austria  should  lead  our  glass- 
makers  to  attempt  their  use. 

AUSTRIAN  SAND. — For  native  sand,  for  its  finest  grades  of  glass,  the  works  of  Austria-Hungary  depend  almost 
entirely  upon  Germany,  the  Hohenbocka  deposit  furnishing  the  larger  part,  the  Herzogenrath  bed  not  being  so 
situated  as  to  supply  them.  This  German  sand  is  so  well  adapted  to  glass-making  that  it  is  carried  long  distances, 
and  is  used  in  close  proximity  to  extensive  quartz  mines.  Tbis  is  true  of  certain  glassware  factories  in  Styria,  which 
use  this  sau'd  exclusively.  This  German  sand  is  not  only  as  pure  as  the  best  and  most  carefully  prepared  quartz, 
but,  notwithstanding  the  great  distance  over  which  it  is  transported,  it  is  much  cheaper  than  the  prepared  quartz. 
Mr.  Fahdt  gives  the  relative  cost  of  sand  and  prepared  quartz  in  Vienna  as  follows :  1  centner  (123.46  pounds)  sand, 
including  freight,  1  reichsmark  (24  cents);  prepared  quartz,  1.47  florin  (72  cents)  per  centner;  th.it  is,  3  to  1  in  favor 
of  the  sand.  Many  Austrian  glass  works,  however,  still  use  quartz.  In  Bohemia,  for  example,  the  most  renowned 
manufacturers  use  only  the  prepared  quartz  sand. 

SAND  FOR  COMMON  AUSTRIAN  GLASS. — For  the  common  grades  of  glass  the  works  depend  on  the  sand-beds 
in  their  immediate  vicinity.  The  remark  in  regard  to  the  use  of  thanolite,  basalt,  etc.,  in  Germany,  will  apply 
to  Austrian  bottle  manufacture  as  well. 

SWEDISH  SAND. — In  Sweden  quartz  is  still  used  to  some  extent,  the  glass  houses  having  been  located  with 
relerence  to  the  supply  of  this  material.  Most  of  the  native  sand  used  comes  from  the  shores  of  lake  Wetter,  the 
best  from  the  north  end  of  the  lake.  The  sand  for  the  best  glass  is  imported  from  France. 

QUALITY  OF  AMERICAN  SAND.— The  superiority  of  American  sand  has  already  been  referred  to.  Not  only 
does  this  country  furnish  the  purest  and  best  sand,  but  extensive  deposits  of  a  grade  suitable  for  the  manufacture 
of  the  finest  glass  exist  in  many  localities.  If  in  the  quality  of  the  metal,  or  in  brilliancy  of  our  glass,  we  are 
behind  our  European  competitors,  it  is  not  attributable  to  our  sand.  These  deposits  are  also  in  many  cases 
well  situated  in  reference  to  fuel  and  to  transportation.  As  examples  of  these  deposits,  those  of  Berkshire  county, 
Massachusetts;  Juuiata  county,  Penusylvania ;  Hancock  county,  West  Virginia ;  Fox  river,  Illinois;  and  Crystal 
City,  Missouri,  may  be  instanced.  These  are  all  exceedingly  pure  sands,  as  the  analyses  given  will  show.  The  first 

named  is  used  very  extensively  by  the  flint-glass  makers  of  the  East.     The  Juniata  and  the  Hancock  sands  supply 
1066 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


29 


Tiiany  of  the  works  of  Pittsburgh  and  Wheeling.  Fox  Kiver  sand  supplies  the  plate-glass  works  of  New  Albany, 
Jeffersonville,  and  Louisville,  and  Crystal  City  furnishes  the  sand  for  the  fine  plate-glass  made  at  that  place. 

NEW  ENGLAND  SAND. — At  present  all  of  the  sand  used  in  the  glass  works  of  New  England  comes  from 
Berkshire.  In  this  section  sand  for  some  works,  being  of  a  good  quality,  was  at  one  time  procured  from  Demerara, 
brought  as  ballast.  The  war  of  1812  cut  off  this  source  of  supply,  and  Plymouth  beach  furnished  sand  until  a 
better  was  discovered  at  Maurice  river,  New  Jersey.  This  was  in  turn  superseded  by  the  Berkshire  sand,  (a) 
It  is  stated  that  an  embargo  put  upon  the  exportation  of  flint  stones  from  England  to  this  country  at  a  time 
when  it  was  believed  that  no  flint  was  to  be  found  here  led  to  the  suspension  for  a  time  of  certain  factories  in  which 
prepared  flint  was  used.  Berkshire  county  also  furnishes  most  of  the  sand  for  the  best  flint-glass  made  in  New 
fork,  New  Jersey,  and  eastern  Pennsylvania.  The  sand  for  the  window  and  green  glass  made  in  the  interior  of 
New  York,  as  well  as  part  of  that  used  in  Ontario,  comes  from  Oswego  and  Oneida  counties-,  that  used  for 
common  glass  near  New  York  city,  as  well  as  all  through  New  Jersey  and  eastern  Pennsylvania,  is  mined  in 
New  Jersey.  Some  sand  for  the  Philadelphia  glass  houses  is  procured  in  West  Virginia. 

NEW  JEKSEY  SAND. — The  sand  used  in  the  southern  part  of  New  Jersey  is  chiefly  derived  from  a  deposit  of 
sand  which  can  be  traced  through  the  state.  This  sand  is  uniform,  and  is  often  used,  without  washing,  for  the 
manufacture  of  window-glass. 

MARYLAND  SAND.— A  good  glass  sand  is  found  at  Will's  mountain,  near  Cumberland,  Maryland,  of  which 
Dr.  Chandler,  of  the  School  of  Mines,  Columbia  College,  New  York,  says :  "I  am  satisfied  that  the  sandstone  is  in 
every  respect  well  fitted  for  the  manufacture  of  glass  of  the  best  quality." 

SAND  FOR  THE  PITTSBURGH  AND  WHEELING  GLASS  HOUSES. — The  large  quantities  of  sand  required  in 
Pittsburgh  and  Wheeling  and  the  factories  in  their  neighborhood  come  from  various  points  in  the  Allegheny 
mountains,  mainly  from  Juniata  and  Fayette  counties,  Pennsylvania,  and  Hancock  county,  West  Virginia.  A  new 
deposit  is  reported  from  the  latter  place,  which  it  is  claimed  analyzes  99.90  per  cent",  of  pure  silica. 

ILLINOIS  SAND. — The  Fox  Kiver  sand,  some  60  miles  from  Chicago,  is  also  a  very  valuable  deposit.  No 
analysis  of  this  sand  has  been  made,  but  it  supplies  the  plate-glass  works  at  New  Albany,  Jeffersonville,  and 
Louisville,  and  some  of  the  flint-glass  works  of  the  West.  It  is  a  beautiful  sand,  needs  no  washing,  and  has  given 
the  very  best  results  in  use. 

MISSOURI  SAND. — The  Crystal  City  deposit  is  also  one  of  the  most  important  beds  in  the  West,  and  is  of  great 
purity  and  inexhaustible  in  quantity,  and  the  cost  of  mining  is  merely  nominal.  There  is  also  a  deposit  of  considerable 
importance  at  Pacific,  Missouri,  which  seems  to  be  of  the  same  formation  as  that  at  Crystal  City.  The  sandstone 
from  this  mine  hardens  instead  of  disintegrating  by  the  action  of  air,  but  water,  to  a  certain  extent,  breaks  the  bond. 
This  sand  is  regularly  supplied  to  the  glass  works  at  Cincinnati  and  many  of  the  works  in  the  West,  except  those 
making  plate-glass.  The  mine  produces  about  1,750  tons  per  month. 

EXTENT  AND  LOCALITY  OF  OTHER  AMERICAN  SANDS. — I  have  only  referred  to  the  most  important  of  the 
sand  miue.s  from  which  our  glass  houses  draw  their  supplies.  The  extent  of  the  deposits  of  sand  suitable  for  glass- 
making  that  are  not  developed,  or,  if  opened,  worked  only  to  a  limited  extent,  is  almost  incalculable.  The 
saccharoidal  sandstone  of  Missouri,  for  example,  has  been  traced  for  miles  through  some  ten  counties,  the  vein 
varying  from  80  to  133  feet  in  thickness.  At  Minneapolis  and  Saint  Paul  a  rock  175  feet  thick  is  found,  furnishing 
a  good  quality  of  glass  sand,  (b)  In  many  states  other  than  those  named  glass  sand  has  been  discovered  and 
reported  upon  by  the  state  geologists  and  chemists,  and  these  reports  contain  descriptions  and  analyses  of  many 
excellent  glass  sands,  of  which,  as  yet,  no  use  has  been  made.  To  those  reports  those  desiring  information  as  to 
the  character  and  extent  of  these  deposits  are  referred. 

ANALYSES  OF  GLASS  SAND. — In  the  following  table  will  be  found  analyses  of  the  most  prominent  glass  sands 

in  Europe  and  this  country : 

ANALYSES  OF  FOREIGN  GLASS  SANDS. 


Constituents. 

FBAKCK. 

ZNGLAJTD. 

GKRMAKT. 

Fontaine- 
bleau.* 

Fontaine- 

V.Kau.t 

Leighton 
Buzzard.* 

Alum 
Bay.t 

Herzogen-  '    Hohen- 
rath.;          bocka.§ 

Silica.  

99.00 
0.50 

98.80 

99.00 
0.30 

97.00 

99.240 
0.200 
0.053 
0.033 

99.760 
0.040 
0.011 
0.012 
0.015 
0.055 

Trace. 
0.50 

0.50 
0.20 

0.005 

0.70 
0.50 

Water 

LOO 

2.00 

0.469 




0.039 
0.240 

LOBS  . 

Total  

i  

100.00 

100.  00 

100.00 

100.00 

100.00 

100.172 

•Authority:  H.  Chance. 


t Authority:  Spon. 


{  Authority :  Julias  Fahdt. 


5 Authority:  Biechof. 


a  Reminisaeuces  of  Glass  Making,  by  Deming  Jarves,  second  ed.,  page  111.     New  York,  1865. 


30 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


ANALYSES  OF  GLASS  SANDS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Constituents. 

MASSACHUSETTS,   BERKBHIKE  COUNTY. 

XKW  JEBSET. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

Will's  Mountain,  Cumber- 
land, Maryland.  || 

Speer,  Hancock  county, 
West  Virginia,  J 

i 

MISSOURI. 

Gordon's.* 

i 
1 

Brown's.* 

Cheshire  quartz,  A. 

H 

o> 

£ 

o 

Downer's,  Glass- 
borough,  f 

HiUiard's,  Maurice 
river,  t 

Speer's,  Fayette 
county.  J 

Juniata  county.  § 

Crystal  City.  U 

Lincoln  county.  ** 

Silica 

99.78 
0.22 

99.61 
0.39 

99.69 
0.31 

98.824 
0.935 
0.056 
0.015 
0.0051 

98.850 
0.980 
0.056 
0.022 
Trace. 

99.720 
0.080 
0.110 
0.06 

98.84 
0.17 
Trace. 
Trace. 

98.35 

99.90 

99.62 

99.66 
0.33 
0.08 

/ 

Chlorine 

Trace. 
0.31 

0.07 

Trace. 

Trace. 

0.165' 

0.130 

Trace. 

0.42 

Trace. 

0.09 
0.22 

0.030 

0.23 

Total  

100.  00 

100.00 

100.00 

100.0004 

100.  038 

100.  000 

99.18 

100.00 

M.M 

*  Authority :  S.  Dana  Hayes. 
t  Authority :  Professor  Cook. 
t  Authority:  Otto  Wuth. 


§  Authority :  A.  S.  McCreath. 
||  Authority :  C.  F.  Chandler. 


U  Authority :  Crystal  City  Plate-Glass  Company. 
**  Authority:  Chanvenet. 


CHAPTER  IV.— ALKALIES  AND  OTHER  MATERIALS. 


CHIEF  BASES  USED  IN  GLASS-MAKING. — As  has  already  been  stated,  the  essential  elements  of  glass  are 
silica,  which  acts  the  part  of  an  acid,  and  some  one  or  more  bases,  either  alkaline  or  metallic.  The  bases  most 
commonly  found  in  glass  are  soda,  potash,  lime,  and  oxide  of  lead.  These  bases,  however,  are  not  mixed  in  the 
"  batch ",  as  the  combined  materials  ready  for  melting  are  termed,  in  the  form  in  which  they  are  found  in  the 
glass.  Soda,  for  example,  is  not  used  in  the  glass  houses  as  soda,  but  as  the  carbonate  (soda-ash)  or  sulphate  of 
soda  (salt-cake),  or  as  chloride  of  sodium  (common  salt)  or  nitrate  of  soda.  In  the  process  of  melting  these 
compounds  are  decomposed,  the  soda  uniting  with  the  silica,  forming  the  glass,  the  balance  of  the  compound 
passing  off  as  gas  or  in  the  "  glass-gall"  or  "  sandiver  ",  as  the  scum  on  the  top  of  the  melted  glass  is  called. 

ANCIENT  GLASS  A  SODA  GLASS  AND  PERISHABLE. — Glass  is  frequently  named  from  the  base  that  enters 
most  largely  into  its  composition,  as  "  soda  glass",  "potash  glass,"  "lime  glass,"  and  "  lead  glass".  Ancient  glasa 
was  a  soda  glass  containing  from  3  to  8  per  cent,  of  lime,  the  lime  being  present  as  an  impurity,  and  not  as  an 
ingredient  purposely  used  iii  its  manufacture.  It  is  to  this  impurity,  however,  as  will  be  seen  further  on,  that  we 
doubtless  owe  the  preservation  of  many  of  the  specimens  of  ancient  glass  that  have  come  down  to  us.  Soda  glass, 
or  glass  with  an  excess  of  soda,  is  really  soluble  glass,  even  dampness  in  course  of  time  disintegrating  it. 
Blancourt,  in  the  amusing  preface  to  his  Art  of  Glass,  states  that  Venetian  glass  "  will  dissolve  in  the  earth  or 
in  cold  and  moist  places  if  there  be  more  salt  in  it  proportionately  than  sand".  Bernard  Palissy  notes  the 
disintegration  of  the  glass  in  the  windows  of  the  churches  of  Poitiers  and  Brittany,  and  ascribes  it  to  "the  damp 
and  rain  which  have  melted  part  of  the  salt  of  the  glass".  As  most  of  the  specimens  of  the  glnss  makers'  art  of 
the  ancient  world  have  come  to  us  buried  in  tumuli  or  tombs,  it  is  probable  that  even  the  fragments  of  most  of  this 
ancient  soda  glass  have  dissolved,  and  that  only  has  been  preserved  which  contained  considerable  lime  and  was 
buried  in  localities  calculated  to  preserve  it  from  dampness. 

SOURCES  OF  SUPPLY  OF  SODA  FOR  ANCIENT  GLASS  HOUSES. — The  chief  source  of  supply  for  soda  for  the 
earliest  glass  houses  was  Egypt.  Phoanicia  obtained  its  supply  from  that  country ;  and  Pliny,  in  his  description 
of  glass-making  at  Rome,  states  that  "  sand  and  Egyptian  soda  in  the  proportion  of  one  part  of  sand  to  three 
of  crude  soda  were  used".  Not  only  did  these  very  early  glass  houses  obtain  their  soda  from  Egypt,  but  until  a 
somewhat  recent  period  the  "  natron  of  Egypt "  was  largely  used  in  glass-making  in  Venice  and  the,  south  of  France. 
This  Egyptian  soda,  which  contained  carbonate,  sulphate,  and  muriate  of  soda,  is  found  native  on  the  banks  of  the 
natron  lakes  that  abounded  in  a  valley  extending  northwest  from  Memphis,  and  by  reason  of  its  abundance  «<*s 
the  seat  of  a  large  glass  industry,  remains  of  ancient  glass  works  being  found  there  by  the  scientists  of  the 
Egyptian  expedition  of  Napoleon  I. 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


31 


MODERN  SOURCES  OF  SODA. — In  modern  times,  and  until  within  the  last  few  years,  the  chief  source  of  soda  for 
glass  has  been  the  ashes  of  certain  plants,  chiefly  those  of  the  sea  and  sea-shore.  Among  the  saline  products  of 
these  ashes  so  used  were  the  Spanish  barilla  from  the  ashes  of  the  salsola  plant ;  the  Scottish  and  Irish  kelp,  which 
as  late  as  sixty  years  ago  furnished  the  soda  for  the  English  crown-  and  sheet-glass ;  the  barec  or  varec  of  Bretagne 
and  Normandy ;  and  the  Spanish  soda  of  Alicaut  and  rochette  of  Syria.  These  products  contained  potash  and  some 
lime  as  well  as  soda,  and  were  simply  mixed  with  sand  and  melted.  They  were  quite  impure,  and,  as  a  result,  the 
glass  produced,  compared  with  that  of  to-day,  was  inferior,  being  exceedingly  variable  in  character  and  poor  in 
color. 

LEBLANC'S  DISCOVERY  OF  SODA- ASH. — The  unsatisfactory  quality  of  these  impure  sodas  (the  best,  the  Spanish 
barilla,  containing  only  from  14  to  30  per  cent.),  as  well  as  the  limited  quantity  produced  and  uncertain  supply,  led 
the  French  government  to  offer  a  prize  of  12,000  francs  for  the  discovery  of  a  method  of  converting  common  salt  into 
soda.  Leblanc  not  only  secured  the  prize  by  his  discovery  of  1792,  but  opened  a  new  era  in  glass-making,  (a)  The 
plate-glass  manufacturers  of  France  were  the  first  of  the  glass-makers  to  use  the  new  product,  the  carbonate  of 
soda  or  soda-ash,  and  were  soon  followed  by  the  makers  of  window-glass,  with  a  decided  improvement  in  quality 
and  color. 

USE  OF  SALT-CAKE. — The  carbonate  of  soda  prepared  by  Leblanc's  method  contains  a  considerable  proportion 
of  undecomposed  sulphate,  and  the  glass  manufacturers  soon  found  some  advantage  in  the  cost  of  glass  by  the 
substitution  of  this  sulphate,  or  "salt-cake",  for  the  carbonate.  As  early  as  1781  experiments  were  made  with 
sulphate  of  soda,  and  in  1803  Baader  began  its  use  in  the  glass  houses  of  the  Bavarian  forests;  but  it  was  not  until 
1825  that  it  was  employed  in  the  French  glass  houses.  In  England  kelp  was  used  until  1831,  when  it  was  displaced 
to  a  large  extent  by  carbonate  of  soda.  The  introduction  of  sulphate  was  still  more  recent,  but  at  present  nearly  all 
the  window  glass  of  England  and  the  continent  is  made  with  salt-cake.  The  manufacturers  of  plate-glass  still  use 
soda-ash,  as  they  believe  that  it  produces  a  glass  of  a  somewhat  better  color.  In  this  country,  though  many 
experiments  had  previously  been  made,  but  little  sulphate  was  used  until  about  1875,  soda-ash  being  the  form  of 
soda  employed  for  window-glass.  Messrs.  Robert  C.  Schmertz  &  Co.,  of  Pittsburgh,  were  the  first  to  use  it 
regularly  and  continuously,  but  it  is  now  largely  consumed.  Sulphate  glass  is  less  liable  to  devitrify  or  to  become 
"  ambitty  ",  and  will  bear  more  lime  than  carbonate  glass,  and  hence  gives  a  harder  glass  with  a  better  polish  and 
less  liability  to  "sweating".  It  is  of  a  bluish  color,  while  the  carbonate  glass  is  of  a  yellowish  tint. 

SOURCE  OF  SUPPLY  OF  SODA. — The  chief  source  of  supply  of  the  soda  of  the  present  day  is  the  alkali  works 
of  England,  which  are  mainly  located  in  Lancashire  and  near  Newcastle-on-Tyne.  It  is  estimated  that  the  total 
annual  soda  production  of  the  world  expressed  in  terms  of  pure  Na^COs  is  708,725  tons,  of  which  432,000  tons  are 
manufactured  in  Great  Britain.  Twelve  per  cent,  of  British  soda  and  23  per  cent,  of  the  total  soda  of  the  world 
are  produced  by  the  ammonia  method.  The  English  soda  enters  into  the  manufacture  of  the  glass  of  most  of  the 
countries  of  the  world,  and  is  almost  the  only  kind  used  in  this  country. 

THE  AMMONIA  PROCESS. — In  1866  Mr.  Ernest  Solvay  began  at  Brussels  the  manufacture  of  soda  by  a  process 
that  has  since  been  called  by  his  name,  the  Solvay,  or,  as  it  is  sometimes  termed,  the  ammonia  process.  This 
method  bids  fair  to  supersede  the  Leblanc.  The  Solvay  soda  is  fully  equal  in  quality  to  the  Leblanc,  and  can  at 
present  be  produced  more  cheaply.  This  has  had  a  marked  effect  on  the  production  of  the  Leblanc  soda.  Of 
twenty -five  alkali  works  which  were  in  operation  in  the  neighborhood  of  Newcastle-on-Tyne.  England,  a  very  few 
years  ago,  twelve  have  been  closed,  and  of  these  no  fewer  than  eight  were  actually  dismantled,  in  despair  of  its  ever 
again  being  possible,  except  at  a  loss,  to  manufacture  soda  in  them  by  the  Leblanc  process.  The  alkali-making 
districts  of  Lancashire  have  advantages  over  the  Newcastle  district  in  the  price  of  salt,  in  facilities  for  supplying  the 
American  market,  and  in  nearness  to  some  of  the  centers  of  soda  consumption  ;  but  even  there  seven  or  eight  of  the 
alkali  works  are  standing  idle,  and  but  few  of  the  others  are  working  to  their  full  capacity.  In  Belgium  the 
production  of  Leblauc  soda  has  died  out,  while  in  France,  Germany,  and  Austria  it  is  only  maintained  by  the  aid 
of  import  duties  and  the  large  demand  for  the  by-product,  hydrochloric  acid.  There  are  now  eighteen  ammonia- 
soda  works  running  in  Europe  and  one  in  the  United  States,  and  seven  more  are  approaching  completion,  (b)  This 
process  is  not  only  of  interest  to  this  country  because  of  its  cheapening  the  cost  of  soda,  but  also  because  it  holds 
out  the  prospect  that  we  may  make  our  own  soda  for  our  glass  works.  The  importance  of  such  an  industry  to  us  may 
be  gathered  from  a  statement  of  the  imports,  which,  for  the  three  calendar  years  1879,  1880,  and  1881,  were  as 
follows : 


1 

879. 

1 

sso. 

1 

n. 

Quantity  in 
pounds. 

Vain*. 

Quantity  in 
pounds. 

Value. 

Quantity  in 
pounds. 

Value. 

Soda-ash  

81,072 

$1,825,450 

96,766 

$2,  345,  461 

74  158 

$1,555  32» 

Caustic-soda    .... 

44,980 

648.269 

43  274 

635  894 

47  180 

656  588 

Sai-Boda  

66  471 

424  414 

53  896 

155,497 

48,797 

138,768 

a  A  full  account  of  this  discovery  and  its  results  may  be  found  in  Mr.  Henry  Chance's  lecture  "On  the  Manufacture  of  Crown  and 
Sheet  Glass",  Journal  of  thf  Society  of  Arts,  February  15,  1856. 

b  See  paper  by  Mr.  Walter  Welden  before  the  English  Society  of  Chemical  Industry. 


32  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

MANUFACTURE  OF  SODA-ASH  AND  SALT-CAKE  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. — Though  the  materials  for  the 
manufacture  of  soda-ash  and  salt-cake  are  to  be  found  in  great  abundance  in  this  country,  but  little  is  produced. 
Mr.  Charles  Lennig,  of  the  Tacouy  chemical  works,  Philadelphia,  produces  some  1,500  tons  annually  of  the  sulphate, 
and  the  Merrimac  Chemical  Company,  of  South  Wilmington,  Massachusetts,  and  B.  Gressili  &  Sons,  of  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  were  also  producers  at  the  close  of  the  census  year.  The  product  of  these  works  is  used  for  window-glass, 
and  is  equal  to  any  of  foreign  make,  that  of  the  Tacouy  works  analyzing  from  97  to  98  per  cent,  of  sulphate,  1  per  cent, 
of  salt  undecomposed,  one-half  to  1  per  cent,  of  excess  of  sulphuric  acid,  and.some  little  insoluble  residue.  As  this 
sulphate  or  salt-cake  is  really  a  by-product  or  residuum  of  the  manufacture  of  muriatic  acid,  its  production  in  this 
country  is  limited  by  the  demand  for  the  acid.  Recent  developments  and  the  ammonia  process,  however,  promise 
to  change  this  state  of  affairs.  The  salt-wells  of  Michigan  and  of  New  York  have  been  looked  upon  as  the  source  of 
a  considerable  supply,  this  view  being  held  by  British  alkali  manufacturers  who  have  examined  these  localities. 
Eecently  a  small  works  using  the  ammonia  process  in  a  modified  form  has  been  successfully  operated  in  Michigan, 
and  it  is  stated  that  the  Solvay  Process  Company  is  erecting  extensive  works  at  Syracuse,  New  York. 

USE  OF  COMMON  SALT. — Both  the  carbonate  and  the  sulphate  of  soda  are  prepared  from  common  salt.  This 
has  led  to  many  attempts  to  effect  the  direct  union  of  silica  and  salt  without  the  intervening  process,  but  thus  far 
with  but  little  success.  At  present  the  only  glass  made  from  common  salt  is  the  black  bottle-glass  of  Newcastle, 
England. 

NITRATE  OF  SODA.- — Nitrate  of  soda  is  used  as  an  oxidizing  agent  in  the  "batch",  and  is  therefore  a 
decolorizer,  though  the  soda  enters  the  composition  of  the  glass.  The  chief  source  is  the  beds  in  the  province  of 
Tarapaca,  Peru ;  but  some  immense  deposits  have  also  been  found  in  Nevada. 

POTASH. — The  use  of  potash  in  glass-making  is  comparatively  recent,  though  some  of  the  best  and  most 
expensive  glass  now  made,  such  as  the  Bohemian  white  and  the  English  flint,  are  potash  glasses.  Some  few 
specimens  of  ancient  glass  show  small  quantities,  from  1  to  2  per  cent.,  which  was  probably  derived  as  a  chance 
material  from  the  sodas  prepared  from  plants  and  weeds,  in  which  some  potash  is  always  present.  As  early  as 
the  fifteenth  century,  if  not  earlier,  the  value  of  potash  as  a  glass-making  material  was  known,  and  it  appears 
that  at  that  time  potash  made  from  the  lees  of  wine  was  used  in  the  Venetian  glass  houses.  In  France,  in  the 
middle  ages,  potash  made  from  fern  was  used.  The  enormous  forests  of  America  began  very  soon  after  the 
discovery  of  this  continent  to  furnish  large  quantities,  and  enormous  tracts  of  timber  have  been  burned  solely 
for  the  ashes.  Blancourt,  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  speaks  of  the  use  of  potash  from  wood-ashes, 
and  mentions  Virginia  and  New  England  as  sources  of  supply  for  the  latter.  The  sources  of  supply  at  the 
present  time  are  many.  Much  of  that  used  in  modern  glass  houses  is  still  made  from  wood-ashes,  about  20,000 
tons  being  thus  produced  annually,  the  Canadas  and  Eussia  furnishing  the  larger  part,  though  the  Bohemian  glass 
manufacturers  procure  theirs  from  the  forests  of  Bohemia  and  Hungary.  This  potash,  as  it  is  made  by  lixiviating 
wood-ashes,  is  an  impure  carbonate,  which  must  be  calcined  and  refined,  the  quality  of  the  glass  depending  upon 
the  degree  of  purification.  Refined  potash  is  known  as  pearlash.  Pure  carbonate  is  also  obtained  from  the 
alkaline  residuum  of  the  manufacture  of  nitric  acid  and  from  caustic  potash.  In  France  beet-molasses  and  the  ashes 
of  beet-cake  and  grape-cake  have  considerable  value  as  sources  of  potash,  some  12,000  tons  per  annum  being  made 
in  Europe  from  the  beet  alone.  Carbonate  of  potash,  the  form  in  which  it  is  used  in  glass-houses,  is  also  prepared 
artificially  from  the  sulphate  by  Leblanc's  method.  Of  the  remaining  salts  of  potassium,  only  tartar,  the  bitartrate 
of  potassa,  which  is  decomposed,  when  heated,  into  carbonate  of  potassium  and  carbon,  finds  sporadic  application 
where  it  is  required  to  use  the  finely-divided  carbon  of  decomposed  nitrate  of  potash  as  a  reducing  agent,  for 
example,  in  the  production  of  copper,  ruby-glass,  or  ruby-fluor.  The  sulphate  of  potassa,  though  applied  as  long 
ago  as  1826  by  Long,  in  Constein,  on  the  Danube,  has  never  yet  attained  to  general  importance  in  the  glass  industry. 

LIME  is,  next  to  silica,  the  most  important  of  glass-making  materials.  It  is  a  constituent  of  nearly  all  the  glass  of 
all  ages  and  countries,  with  the  exception  of  that  made  with  lead,  and  it  is  even  present  in  many  specimens  of  lead 
glass,  though,  as  before  stated,  its  presence  in  ancient  glass  was  probably  by  chance  and  not  by  design.  The 
action  of  lime  is  to  render  the  soda  or  potash  glasses  harder  and  less  soluble,  and,  when  used  in  the  proper 
proportion  in  the  "batch",  to  promote  the  fusion  of  the  materials  and  improve  the  quality  of  the  glass.  An  excess 
of  lime,  however,  makes  the  glass  too  hard.  In  the  manufacture  of  table  ware  lime  furnishes  a  cheap  substitute 
for  lead,  and,  though  as  a  rule  the  lime-flint  is  less  brilliant  than  the  lead-flint,  many  of  the  recent  specimens  of 
lime  glass,  especially  those  that  are  "fire-polished",  are  exceedingly  beautiful,  approaching  in  brilliancy  the  true 
crystal  of  the  English  flint  houses.  The  makers  of  lime  glass,  however,  do  not,  as  a  rule,  seek  to  compete  with 
lead  gltiss  in  brilliancy,  but  in  lightness  and  beauty  of  form,  as  is  the  case  with  the  Bohemian  glass- workers,  or  to 
furnish  a  cheap  substitute  for  lead  glass  for  articles  of  utility,  as  is  the  case  with  the  pressed-ware  manufacturers 
of  this  country  or  the  manufacturers  of  "  Gobeleterie "  of  France.  Lime  also  enters  largely  into  the  composition 
of  modern  plate-  and  window-glass,  giving  it  the  hardness  and  insolubility  necessary  to  protect  it  from  the  weather 
and  prevent  its  "  sweating",  which  is  so  marked  a  fault  of  glass  with  an  excess  of  alkali. 

USE  OF  LIME  A  MODERN  DISCOVERY. — Though  the  true  relation  of  lime  to  the  manufacture  of  glass  as  a 
hardener  and  preserver  is  really  a  very  modern  discoverv,  and  though  the  proper  proportion  of  lime  to  soda  and 
1070 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  33 

potash  has  only  been  arrived  at  slowly  and  by  many  careful  experiments,  it  is  true  that  it  was  used  to  some 
extent  in  the  glass  houses  as  early  as  the  days  of  Pliny.     He  says : 

To  the  materials  of  glass  they  begin  to  atld  the  magnetic  stone ;  then  they  joined  shiny  stones  of  all  kinds :  then  shells  and  fossil 
Bands. 

He  also  notes  that  the  use  of  lime  in  his  time  was  an  advance  in  the  art  of  glass-making.  Ferrantes 
Imperatus  recommends  the  shells  of  cretaceous  fishes,  as  the  oyster,  as  "very  proper  for  making  glass". 
Notwithstanding  these  indications  that  the  use  of  lime  was  not  entirely  unknown  from  the  time  of  Pliny,  it  has 
been  but  recently  that  its  value  as  an  essential  constituent  of  glass  has  been  recognized.  Blancourt  was  somewhat 
afraid  of  it,  and  declares  that  "  it  is  much  stronger  than  ordinary  salt ",  but  directs  that  it  "  being  well  purified  you 
may  put  two  pounds  of  it  to  an  hundred  pounds  of  salt  of  Polverine",  or  soda.  He  would  think  the  glass-makers  of 
to-day,  who,  in  some  forms  of  glass  use  measure  for  measure,  must  be  gnided  by  "  parcimony",  of  which  he  elsewhere 
speaks.  It  is  probable  that  until  very  recently  lime  has  been  used  only  as  a  cheap  substitute  for  soda  and  potash, 
the  difficulty  of  using  it  in  furnaces,  constructed  and  heated  as  the  older  furnaces  were,  interfering  with  its 
adoption,  until  recent  investigation  had  shown  its  value  and  recent  improvements  had  made  its  employment 
possible. 

SOURCES  OF  SUPPLY. — It  is  unnecessary  to  speak  of  the  sources  of  supply  of  lime,  as  all  glass-making 
countries  have  it  in  abundance,  and  it  is  used  in  the  batch  as  chalk,  lime,  or  limestone.  Lime,  however,  that 
contains  ferrous  carbonate  of  iron  must  not  be  used  in  a  mixture  intended  for  white  glass.  Indeed,  except  for 
bottle-glass,  it  is  important  to  have  the  lime,  as  well  as  all  the  other  materials,  as  pure  as  possible.  Mr.  Chance 
notes  that  glass  made  with  limestone  is  harder  and  more  difficult  to  grind  than  that  made  with  chalk,  and  it 
moreover  causes  the  glass  to  cool  anil  set  more  rapidly.  In  this  country,  however,  limestone  is  coming  into  more 
general  use,  some  of  the  Pittsburgh  window-glass  works  using  no  lime  at  all,  but  only  powdered  limestone. 

'LEAD. — The  use  of  lead  as  a  glass-making  material,  except  in  the  production  of  artificial  gems,  is  an  English 
invention  of  the  seventeenth  century,  (a)  and  grew  out  of  the  use  of  mineral  fuel  in  the  glass  houses  of  that  country 
in  the  place  of  wood,  which  up  to  that  time  had  been  the  fuel  of  glass- making,  as  it  still  is  in  many  sections  of  the 
world,  (b)  This  fuel  required  covered  pots  to  protect  the  glass  from  impurities,  which  so  reduced  the  amount  of 
heat  that  reached  the  materials  as  to  demand  a  better  flux,  and  lead  was  substituted.  The  result  was  not  only  to 
permit  the  use  of  the  cheaper  fuel,  but  the  production  of  that  most  beautiful  and  brilliant  of  all  glasses,  the 
English  flint.  Lead  is  used  both  as  litharge  and  as  red  lead,  and  is  a  most  powerful  flux,  promoting  the  fusion  of 
materials  at  a  very  low  temperature.  The  glass  made  with  it  is  more  dense,  has  a  greater  power  of  refraction,  and  is 
k-s.<  liable  to  breakage  from  sudden  changes  of  temperature.  It  is  soft  and  is  easily  worked  and  scratched,  but  is  of 
surpassing  brilliancy,  being  only  excelled  by  the  diamond.  The  glass  used  for  the  manufacture  of  artificial  gems 
is  a  lead  glass,  and  it  is  to  the  employment  of  this  material  that  they  owe  their  brilliancy,  while  at  the  same  time 
an  excess  of  lead  renders  them  soft  and  easily  scratched ;  a  fact  that  soon  becomes  apparent  to  the  wearer  of 
these  gems.  It  is  very  probable  that  the  use  of  lead  in  a  small  way  in  the  manufacture  of  these  gems,  which 
antedated  its  use  in  flint  glass,  was  the  suggestion  to  the  English  that  resulted  in  the  discovery  of  the  latter.  Lead 
is  also  used  in  the  manufacture  of  optical  glasses,  and  the  history  of  its  use  for  this  purpose  is  exceedingly  interesting, 
but  cannot  be  repeated  here. 

LEAD  GLASS,  WHERE  MADE. — Lead  is  used  in  the  manufacture  of  glass  to  a  greater  extent  in  England  than 
anywhere  else,  though  France  and  Belgium,  and,  to  a  less  degree,  Germany,  make  some  true  lead  flint.  In  this 
v'uuntry  lead  glass  is  made  but  to  a  limited  extent.  Some  few  factories  still  make  lead-flint  table  ware  and 
« liimneys,  but  most  of  the  table  ware  is  lime  glass.  In  the  past,  however,  considerable  lead  glass  was  made  here, 
and  red  lead  of  an  excellent  quality  for  glass  is  still  made  at  East  Cambridge,  near  Boston.  The  first  lead  furnace 
in  the  L'nited  States  is  believed  to  have  been  built  by  Mr.  Deming  Jarves,  of  the  Xew  England  glass  works, 
East  Cambridge,  in  1818,  for  the  manufacture  of  lead  for  glass.  This  furnace  was  a  success,  and  enabled  the 
company  to  continue  the  manufacture  of  glass  at  a  period  when  no  foreign  red  lead  was  to  be  procured,  (c)  Eed 
lead  is  generally  preferred  to  litharge  on  account  of  its  finer  state  of  subdivision,  and  because  its  decomposition  in 
the  glass  pot  assists  in  purifying  the  materials,  as  an  excess  of  lead  not  only  makes  the  glass  soft  and  gives  it  a 
yellowish  tinge,  but  acts  injuriously  upon  the  melting  vessels. 

OTHER  INGREDIENTS. — Among  the  other  ingredients  found  in  glass  are  the  following:  Iron,  which  is  almost 
always  present  in  several  of  the  materials,  especially  sand,  and  is  a  most  unwelcome  element,  imparting  a  greenish 
color  to  the  glass.  Manganese  in  the  form  of  the  black  oxide  is  introduced  to  correct  the  action  of  the  iron,  but  the 
researches  of  Mr.  Thomas  GafSeld,  of  Boston,  show  that  the  action  of  manganese  as  a  decolorizer  is  not  permanent*  (d) 

a  Dr.  Lardner,  in  his  Cabinet  Cyclopaedia,  says :  ••  The  manufacture  of  flint  glass  was  begun  in  England  in  155?  at  Savoy  House,  in 
the  Strand,  and  in  Crutched  Kriars."  Bontemps,  in  bis  Report  on  Glass  at  the  Paris  Exposi  ion  O/1855,  shows  that  this  is  a  mistake,  so 
far  as  relates  to  lead  flint,  and  states  that  it  could  not  have  been  made  prior  to  16<x>. 

6  It  seems  that  lead  was  used  in  the  manufacture  of  glass  much  earlier  than  this,  certainly  in  the  Roman  period ;  but  it  is  still  true 
that  the  English  are  entitled  to  the  credit  of  its  first  use  in  lead  glass  as  now  made. 

c  Reminiscences  of  Glass  Making,  second  edition,  page  110. 

d  This  >s  probably  the  "  magnetic  stone"  of  Pliny,  and  its  use  as  a  decolorizer  has  been  known  for  centuries. 

1071 


34  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

Carbon  in  the  form  of  powdered  charcoal,  coke,  or  anthracite  is  used  in  "  batch  "  of  sulphate  of  soda  to  facilitate 
the  decomposition  of  the  sulphate.  Arsenic  promotes  the  decomposition  of  the  other  ingredients  and  the  removal 
of  carbonaceous  matter.  In  excess,  however,  it  produces  milkiness.  Alumina  is  almost  always  present  in  glass, 
generally  from  the  action  of  the  materials  of  the  glass  on  the  pots.  Gullet  is  the  waste  glass  produced  in  every 
manufactory,  which,  being  more  fusible  than  the  new  material,  facilitates  the  melting. 


CHAPTER  V.— GLASS  FURNACES  AND  POTS. 


EARLY  FURNACES  AND  GLASS  HOUSES. — But  little  is  known  regarding  the  form  or  construction  of  the  furnaces 
used  by  the  earliest  glass-makers.  One  of  the  paintings  at  Beni  Hassan,  one  of  the  earliest  records  of  the  art 
remaining,  pictures  an  Egyptian  glass-melter  seated  before  an  upright  circular  furnace  about  2£  to  3  feet  high  and 
one-third  this  in  diameter,  from  which  he  is  evidently  gathering  the  molten  glass  through  a  square  hole  at  the  bottom. 
This  would  indicate  that  the  glass  materials  were  charged  at  the  top  of  the  furnace  and  drawn  at  the  bottom:  an 
operation  somewhat  analogous  to  smelting  iron,  but  one  that  would  give  very  impure  glass.  If  this  was  the  practice 
of  the  early  glass-makers,  this  method  probably  gave  place  at  an  early  day  to  a  crucible  of  some  kind,  in  which  the 
materials  were  melted,  the  heat  being  applied  outside  and  fuel  not  being  in.  direct  contact  with  the  glass.  It  is  quite 
certain  that  the  early  glass-making  furnaces  contained  until  long  after  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era  but  a 
single  small  pot,  the  entire  work  of  mixing,  melting,  blowing,  and  finishing  being  done  at  each  little  establishment 
by  a  single  glass-worker,  assisted  in  the  earlier  and  less  skilled  part  by  slaves  or  servants,  and  the  minute 
division  of  labor  which  is  so  distinguishing  a  feature  of  modern  industrial  life,  and  the  aggregation  of  capital  and 
workmen  in  one  large  establishment,  were  unknown  in  these  early  days,  especially  in  industries  in  which  so  much 
depended  on  individual  skill,  and  where  the  art  was  regarded  as  a  mystery  or  secret  not  to  be  divulged.  The 
great  variety  in  form  and  character,  and  especially  in  the  color  of  the  glass  of  these  works,  as  evidenced  by  the  very 
many  fragments  remaining,  would  also  indicate  that  glass-making  was  carried  on  not  in  large  establishments, 
producing,  as  at  the  present  day,  quantities  of  glass  of  the  same  form  and  color,  but  in  many  little  establishments, 
each  working  on  a  small  scale,  and  each  producing  glass  differing  in  color  and  shape. 

FURNACES  IN  AGRICOLA'S  TIME. — Though  we  have  but  little  knowledge  of  the  early  glass  furnaces,  it  is  well 
known  that  those  of  four  hundred  years  ago  did  not  differ  much  in  principle  or  in  construction  from  the  ordinary 
direct-firing  furnace  of  to-day.  The  description  given  by  Agricola,  one  of  the  earliest  of  modern  writers  on  glass, 
of  the  furnaces  used  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  is  so  near  like  that  given  in  Dr.  Lardner's  Cabinet 
Cyclopaedia  of  fifty  years  ago  that  the  latter  can  almost  be  regarded  as  a  translation  of  the  De  Re  Metallica. 
Agricola  describes  three  forms  of  furnaces  as  in  use  in  the  glass  houses  of  his  time.  In  the  first,  called  the  "  Fornax 
Calcaria  ",  a  small  furnace  somewhat  resembling  a  bee-hive  coke  oven  in  shape,  the  materials  were  dried,  purified  so. 
far  as  they  could  be  by  heat,  and  partially  combined  in  a  cindery  or  slaggy  mass  called  "frit",  which  was  afterward 
broken  up  and  remelted  in  working  furnaces.  The  greater  purity  of  modern  materials  and  the  better  methods  of 
working  have  made  this  preliminary  purifying  and  "fritting"  unnecessary,  and  the  term  "frit"  is  now  applied  to 
the  unmelted  mixture  of  sand,  soda,  lime,  etc.,  which  is  charged  into  the  pots,  or,  in  other  words,  to  the  "batch". 
Fifty  years  ago,  however,  this  process  of  fritting  was  still  in  use.  At  the  present  time  the  calcar  furnace  or  arch 
is  only  used  to  dry  and  calcine  the  sand,  unless  it  may  still  be  retained  in  some  glass-making  sections  where  the 
old  methods  are  still  in  vogue,  or  as  an  annex  to  the  bottle  furnace,  where  impure  materials  are  used.  In  some 
cases  the  calcar  arch  is  used  to  heat  the  "batch"  prior  to  "filling  in",  it  being  thought  better  to  charge  it  heated 
into  the  hot  pots. 

Agricola's  second  furnace  was  the  melting  or  working  furnace.  I  quote  the  description  of  this  as  given  by 
Blancourt,  with  his  comments  and  improvements  :  (a) 

The  second  furnace  or  oven  Agricola  mentions  is  that  where  the  workmen  labor,  or  the  working  furnace ;  but  the  description  he 
gives  us  of  it  is  not  just,  for  he  makes  all  these  ovens  round,  whereas  they  ought  only  to  be  round  withiu,  but  oval  without.  Moreover,  h« 
adds  two  mouths  in  form  of  chimneys,  wherein  a  servant  throws  coals  day  and  night,  which  is  no  more  now  in  use,  since  we  only  use  dried 
wood,  as  I  have  observed,  which  also  makes  the  iron  grates  he  mentions  for  the  mouth  and  ash-hole  of  no  more  use  among  us.  This  oven, 
whose  diameter  ought  to  be  always  proportional  to  the  height,  is  divided  into  three  parts,  each  of  the  three  parts  being  vaulted.  That  below 
is  the  place  where  the  servant  flings  in  the  wood  to  keep  a  continual  fire,  and  without  smoke ;  and  this  lower  oven  is  called  the  crown,  and  tho 
mouth  the  Bocca ;  but  there  is  neither  grate  nor  ash-hole,  the  wood  being  cast  in  on  the  coals,  care  being  taken  to  take  them  out  whom 
there  are  too  many  with  a  great  iron  hollow  shovel.  This  oven,  made  like  a  crown,  to  which  Agricola  allows  but  one  hole  in  the  middle 


a  See  Rlancourt,  Art  of  Glass,  London,  MDCXCIX,  pages  20-23. 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  35 

of  its  height,  about  one  foot  in  diameter,  has,  notwithstanding,  several  holes  all  round  it  for  vent  of  the  flame,  which  ascends  into  a  second 
oven  through  the  middle,  where  are  placed  the  pots  filled  with  the  ingredients  that  make  tie  glass,  npon  which  that  flame  perpetually 
reverberates.  The  second  part  of  this  oven,  whereof  the  vault  is  round,  serves  for  the  workmen.  Agricola  allots  to  each  of  these  ovens 
eight  arches;  nevertheless  we  commonly  make  bnt  six.  Between  each  arch  there  is  an  opening  or  hole,  made  in  fashiou  of  a  window, 
archwise  called  the  great  work-hole,  through  which  the  pots  are  pnt  in  and  those  taken  out  which  contain  tlie  metal.  These  great  holes 
are  stopped  each  with  a  cover  made  of  the  same  Inte  and  brick  that  the  oven  is,  to  preserve  the  workmen's  eyes  from  the  too  vehement 
heat  and  likewise  to  keep  it  the  stronger  in  the  oven.  In  the  middle  of  every  one  of  these  covers  there  is  a  hole  somewhat  more  than  a 
palm  wide,  which  is  called  the  little  working-hole,  through  which  the  workmen  take  with  their  hollow  irons  the  colored  or  finer  metal 
out  of  the  pots,  wherewith  they  make  what  sort  of  vessels  they  please.  It  serves  also  to  scald  their  vessels  \vheu  they  have  occasion,  and 
which  rest  upon  hooks  made  on  purpose  on  the  sides  of  those  holes,  which  are  called,  according  to  their  term.-,  the  little  \\orkiug-holes, 
The  upper  vault  <>f  this  furuaee,  which  is  above  that  where  the  metal  is  melted  and  the  workmen  work,  servos  to  put  the  vessels  that  are 
new  made  npun.  there  to  eosl  by  degrees,  that  place  having  only  a  moderate  heat;  otherwise  the  vessels  would  break  if  they  were  too 
soon  exposed*to  the  cold  air.  We  might  also  divide  that  upper  vault  into  two,  the  half  of  it  being  enough  for  ending  the  vessels;  and  on 
the  other  might  be  made  Holme  Maria:,  of  diverse  degrees  of  heat,  sand  furnaces,  or  of  ashes  for  purifications,  digestions,  distillations,  andother 
uses  and  may  serve  for  the  preparation  of  the  ingredients  wherewith  we  make  tinctures  for  glass  and  crystal,  whereof  we  shall  treat  in  the 
sequel  oi  this  book.  The  ovens  of  the  great  glass  houses  are  round  within  and  oval  without,  like  those  of  the  little  glass  houses  whereof  we  have 
already  made  mention ;  but  there  is  this  difference :  that  any  ingenious  workmen  can  build  those  of  the  little  glass  houses,  but  there  is  only  one 
race  of  masons  iu  all  France  who  have  the  secret  of  building  the  great  ones.  They  came  from  Caule,  in  the  county  of  Eu,  and  those  only  can 
succeed  iu  it.  What  and  how  nice  observations  soever  others  have  made  to  imitate  them,  there  was  never  any  one  yet  could  arrive  to  it, 
insomuch  that  all  those  who  have  any  great  glass  houses  throughout  the  whole  kingdom  are  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  that  family  to  build 
their  furnaces,  ami  that  for  want  of  a  due  proportion  which  must  be  observed,  because  they  must  have  three  degrees  more  of  heat  than  the 
little  glass  houses,  ami  one  inch  difference  in  the  arch  and  body  of  the  oven  is  enough  to  spoil  the  whole  process.  These  ovens  are  built 
like  those  we  have  before  mentioned,  except  as  to  the  proportions  which  angment  the  heat  three  degrees  beyond  the  others;  they  have 
six  arches — two  of  which  serve  to  heat  the  matter  before  you  put  it  in  the  pots,  and  another  to  heat  the  pots  before  you  pnt  them  into  the 
oven  when  there  is  occasion  to  change  them.  In  this  oven  each  working-hole  has  bnt  one  pot  in  it,  and  in  the  farther  end  ofthe  oven  on 
the  other  side  of  the  workmen  there  is  a  great  pot.  wherein  the  matter  (or  ingredients)  is  prepared,  out  of  which  you  take  it  with  an 
iron  ladle  of  10  or  12  feet  long,  to  fill  the  pots  of  the  gentlemen  who  work  at  the  rate  the  pots  are  emptied ;  after  that  the  great  pot  is 
filled  again  with  other  matter  to  be  refined  and  prepared  as  before.  The  materials  which  serve  for  building  these  furnaces  are  bricks  for 
the  outward  parts,  and  for  the  inner  parts  a  sort  of  fuller's-earth,  which  is  gotten  from  Beliere,  near  Forges,  and  which  is  the  only  earth 
in  France  which  has  the  property  of  not  melting  in  this  excessive  heat;  and  it  is  of  this  same  earth  that  the  pots  are  also  made,  which 
will  hoi  1  the  melted  metal  for  a  long  time. 

It  will  be  noted  that  this  oven  of  Agricola  and  Blancourt  is  virtually  the  direct-firing  wood  or  coal  furnace  of 
to-day  with  the  upper  part  above  the  reverberating  arch  used  as  an  annealing  oven.  This  third  division  is  still  in 
iiw  in  Bohemia  lor  the  same  purposes  as  described  by  Blancourt. 

3IuDKi:x  KTHXACKS. — The  glass-melting  furnace  of  modern  times  is  a  modified  form  of  the  reverberatory 
furnace,  which  assumes  different  shapes,  and  is  built  of  different  sizes,  according  to  the  kind  of  glass  to  be  made  or 
the  fuel  used.  Furnaces  for  plate-,wiudow-,  aud  bottle-glass  are  generally  oblong  or  square,  the  pots  being  placed 
in  two  banks  or  rows,  one  on  each  side,  while  those  for  flint-glass  are  circular  or  elliptical.  In  the  construction  of 
furnaces  the  principal  ends  to  be  attained  are  the  production  and  maintenance  of  an  intense  heat,  (a)  its  uniform 
distribution  through  the  furnace  and  around  the  pots,  and  its  direct  and  most  intense  application  to  the  fusion  of 
the  glass-making  materials.  Without  entering  into  a  detailed  description  of  the  varying  shapes  and  sizes  of  the 
ordinary  furnace  iu  use  in  this  country,  it  may  be  said  in  general  that  these  furnaces  consist  of  two  parts,  the 
combustion  or  melting  chamber  aud  the  cave  or  ash-pit,  which  also  serves  as  a  draught  passage.  These  are 
separated  by  the  fire-grate  and  "siege",  the  raised  bank  or  narrow  platform  in  the  melting  chamber  on  which  the 
pots  are  placed.  The  grate  or  fuel-space  is  square,  and  occupies  the  center  ofthe  furnace,  and  the  fuel  is  charged 
generally  from  both  ends.  The  grate  is  usually  on  the  same  level  as  the  floor  of  the  glass  house.  Under,  and 
connected  with  it,  is  the  arched  subterranean  passage  or  chamber  kuowu  as  the  cave  or  ash-pit,  extending  the  entire 
length  of  the  furnace,  both  ends  opening  outside  the  building,  thus  forming  a  passage  by  which  air  for  combustion 
is  fed  to  the  grate.  Sometimes  two  of  these  passages,  crossing  under  the  grate-bars  at  right  angles  to  each  other, 
are  built,  so  that  either  can  be  used  according  to  the  direction  of  the  wind.  There  are  doors  at  both  ends  of  these 
archways  to  regulate  the  draught.  Within  the  furnace  around  the  grate  space  in  the  case  of  circular  furnaces,  or  on 
both  sides  of  it  in  quadrangular  furnaces,  is  the  raised  bank  or  platform  termed  the  "siege",  on  which  the  pots  are 
placed.  The  fire  thus  lies  below  the  bottom  of  the  pots  and  in  the  center  of  the  furnace.  The  number  of  pots  in 
a  furnace  varies  from  four  to  eighteen  or  more.  Each  pot  is  reached  for  charging  or  working  the  metal  by  a  small 
arcbed  opening  or  working-hole  in  the  side  of  the  furnace,  situated  directly  over  the  pot,  except  in  the  flint  furnace, 
where  covered  pots  are  used.  In  this  case  the  mouth  of  the  pot  is  on  a  level  with  the  working-hole,  and  the 
number  of  working-holes  in  a  furnace  thus  equals  the  number  of  pots.  Furnaces  other  than  flint  frequently 
have  no  chimneys  or  flues,  the  only  exit  for  the  products  of  combustion  being  the  working-holes.  As  the  fire  is  in 
the  center,  and  the  pots  are  around  the  sides,  the  flame  is  thus  made  to  play  around  the  pots,  securing  a  most  direct 
and  intense  heat.  In  some  furnaces,  however,  there  are  as  many  flues  or  chimneys  as  there  are  pots,  the  flues 

a  There  is  a  wide  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  heat  of  a  glass-melting  furnace.  Sauzay,  in  Wonders  of  Glass  Making  in  AH  .Iget, 
New  York,  1673,  states  it  to  be  1,000°  to  1,500°  C.  The  Encyclopedia,  of  Chtmiitry.  Philadelphia,  gives  the  proper  temperature  of  a  glass 
furnace  at  '20,000°  F.  This  last  figure  is  doubtless  a  "guess",  and  it  might  as  well  have  been  put  at  50,000°.  Mr.  Page,  of  the  Berkshire 
(Massachusetts)  "lass  works,  gives  the  heat  of  a  glass  furnace  as  between  2,800°  and  3,600°  F.,  or  an  average  of  3,200°. 

(W  M    il  lu73 


36  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

being  placed  between.  The  same  result,  however,  is  obtained,  the  flame  striking  the  pots  on  its  way  to  the 
flues.  Furnaces  are  often  constructed  with  a  double  arch,  the  lower  one  the  reverberating  arch,  the  upper  one 
forming  the  top  of  the  furnace,  and  the  space  between  the  two  arches  forms  a  chamber  for  the  reception  of  the 
products  of  combustion,  which  pass  out  by  a  common  flue  at  the  top.  Frequently,  instead  of  this  outer  arch,  the 
outside  walls  of  the  furnace  are  curved  up  in  the  form  of  a  truncated  cone  or  open  chimney,  and  in  others  the 
separate  flues  open  into  the  glass  house  itself,  which  thus  becomes  a  chimney,  discharging  the  products  of  combustion 
at  the  top  of  the  house.  The  roof  of  the  furnace  is  arched,  the  arch  being  built  as  low  as  is  consistent  with  stability, 
in  order  to  reverberate  or  throw  the  heat  with  the  greatest  intensity  upon  the  pots.  The  inside  dimensions  of  these 
furnaces  vary  so  much  that  it  is  possible  to  give  only  a  general  idea  of  their  dimensions.  A  ten  44-inch  pot  window 
glass  or  green-bottle  furnace  would  be  about  20  feet  long  by  12  feet  wide  ;  a  ten  36-inch  pot  flint  furnace  about  J2 
to  13  feel;  in  diameter,  the  materials  used  being  fire-brick  or  sandstone,  or  both. 

FUEL  USED. — The  fuel  used  in  the  early  glass  houses  was  wood,  (a)  which  was  dried  or  baked  to  expel  all 
moisture  before  using.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  even  at  the  present  time  it  is  difficult  to  secure  the  intense  and 
even  temperature  necessary  to  properly  melt  and  "fine"  glass  with  wood,  the  success  of  the  ancient  glass-workers 
is  all  the  more  commendable.  It  is  possible  that  when  only  one  pot  or  crucible  was  used  this  may  have  been 
surrounded  with  charcoal,  and  a  more  intense  and  even  heat  produced  than  with  wood  ;  but  when  furnaces  with 
more  than  one  pot  became  common,  and  the  glass  was  thus  melted  by  the  flame  playing  on  the  pots,  it  would 
greatly  increase  the  difficulty  of  melting  with  wood,  and  preclude  the  use  of  charcoal.  It  is  generally  stated  that 
mineral  coal  was  first  used  in  England  in  glass-making  in  1635  by  Sir  Robert  Mansel,  who  obtained  a  monopoly 
of  the  manufacture  of  flint-glass  in  consideration  of  his  being  the  first  person  who  employed  pit-coal  instead  of 
wood  in  his  furnace.  This,  however,  is  not  correct.  Blancourt  states : 

In  the  time  of  Agricola  they  made  use  only  of  coals  in  the  glass  houses;  but  the  use  of  wood,  which  is  among  the  moderns,  is  much 

better;  for,  being  first  of  all  thoroughly  dried,  it  does  not  smoke  like  coal,  which  always  makes  the  glass  dull  and  obscure. 
.  \ 

As  Agricola  published  his  De  Re  Metallica  in  1546,  Hansel's  claim  to  being  the  first  to  use  pit-coal  can  hai'dly 
be  sustained.  Indeed,  it  is  disproved  by  the  English  records  themselves,  as  before  1611  Sir  William  Slingsby  had 
obtained  a  patent  for  making  glass  with  sea-coal ;  and  in  1615  a  royal  proclamation  was  issued  prohibiting  the 
use  of  wood  in  glass-making  and  ordering  it  to  be  made  with  sea-  or  pit-coal  only.  Sir  Robert  seems,  like  many 
a  reputed  inventor,  to  have  filched  the  honor  belonging  to  another.  In  England  at  the  present  time  coal  is  almost 
exclusively  employed,  but  of  late  years  it  has  been  found  that  oven-burned  coke  can  be  used  to  advantage,  as  it 
produces  less  smoke  and  soot,  and  is  therefore  better  adapted  to  some  of  the  finer  glasses.  In  France  both  coal 
and  coke,  and  sometimes  wood,  are  used.  Belgium  uses  coal  exclusively.  In  Germany  wood  is  largely  employed, 
beside  considerable  peat  and  turf.  Both  coal  and  lignite  are  also  used.  Where  wood  is  used,  it  is  baked  until  brown, 
to  expel  all  of  the  water,  and  peat  must  also  be  dry  and  afford  only  a  small  amount  of  ash.  In  this  country  coal  is 
used  almost  entirely,  though  as  late  as  1865  wood  was  still  used  in  Boston.  It  was  the  excellent  quality  of  the 
coal  at  Pittsburgh  that  led  to  the  erection  of  the  first  works  in  that  city. 

GAS  FURNACES. — So  far  the  description  and  remarks  concerning  furnaces  apply  more  properly  to  what  are 
known  as  "direct-firing"  furnaces,  or  those  heated  by  fuel  charged  directly  into  the  fire-pot  or  hearth  of  the 
furnace.  In  1861  the  first  successful  gas  furnace  for  glass,  the  now  well-known  Siemens  furnace,  was  first  used. 
In  this  and  other  forms  of  the  gas  furnace  the  solid  fuel  is  first  converted  into  gas  in  a  producer  outside  of  the 
furnace,  and  is  then  burned,  generally  in  connection  with  heated  air.  This  application  of  gas  is  one  of  the  most 
marked  and  important  improvements  in  glass-making  of  modern  times.  Beside  the  saving  in  fuel  and  the 
possibility  of  using  inferior  fuel  which  the  gas  furnace  permits,  it  reduces  the  time  of  melting  and  increases  the 
production  as  well  as  greatly  improves  the  quality  of  the  product. 

THE  SIEMENS'  FURNACE. — The  first  use  to  which  the  Siemens'  regenerative  gas  furnace  was  put,  now  so  well 
known  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  was  the  manufacturing  of  glass  in  pots.  In  using  this  furnace  the  principle  and 
construction  of  the  ordinary  furnace  were  changed  only  so  far  as  was  necessary  to  apply  the  regenerative  principle  and 
heat  with  gas.  In  these  furnaces  the  gas  and  air  em  ployed  are  separately  heated  by  the  waste  heat  from  the  flame 
by  means  of  what  are  called  "  regenerators"  placed  beneath  the  furnaces.  These  are  four  chambers  filled  with  fire- 
brick, stacked  loosely  in  checker- work,  the  waste  gases  passing  through  one  pair  of  regenerators  and  heating  them, 
while  the  air  and  gas  are  being  heated,  prior  to  burning,  by  passing  through  the  other  pair,  which  had  been  similarly 
heated..  When  this  second  pair  has  been  somewhat  cooled  the  direction  of  the  draught  is  changed,  the  waste  gas 
passing  through  the  cooled  pair,  heating  them,  while  the  air  and  gas  are  passing  through  the  heated  pair.  This  is 
again  changed  when  the  regenerator  is  cooled,  and  so  the  cool  air  and  gas  are  passed  alternately  through  each 
pair  of  regenerators,  which  are  thus  alternately  cooled  and  heated.  The  economy  of  fuel  is  not  only  great,  but  the 
heat  produced  is  intense,  and  actual  working,  it  is  claimed,  shows  a  saving  of  47i  per  cent,  of  fuel  over  the  direct-firing 
furnace  in  glass-making  by  the  use  of  this  furnace,  (b)  The  loss  in  pots  is  reduced ;  and  there  are  no  "  cutting  drafts  " 

a  Plutarch  states  that  "  tamarisk  wood  is  the  best  for  the  glass  furnaces". 

6  The  saving  of  fuel  in  gas-firing  is  stated  never  to  be  less  than  30  per  rent.,  and  is  often  as  !ri<;li  as7.">  per  cent. 
1074 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


37 


on  the  outside,  the  pots  only  cutting  from  the  inside.    The  durability  of  thefurnace  is  also  increased, 
table  shows  the  extent  to  which  these  furnaces  were  used  in  1879 : 

SIEMENS'  FURNACES  USING  POTS. 


The  following 


Window- 
Countries.                           Plate-glass,    and  liottle- 
glas.%. 

Flint- 
glass. 

Great  Bri1 

sou  .. 

;     : 
:     ,: 

15 

Other  com 

i  tries 

SIEMENS'  FUENACES  WITH  TANKS. 
Great  Britain - 6 


SIEMENS'  FURNACES  WITH  CONTINUOUS  TANKS. 

Great  Britain 4 

France 10 

Belgium 1 

Other  countries — 3 

USE  OF  SIEMENS'  FUENACES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. — Though,  as  this  table  shows,  the  Siemens  pot-furnaces 
are  used  to  a  considerable  extent  in  all  glass-making  countries  of  Europe,  but  few  have  been  built  at  the  glass  houses 
of  this  country.  One  reason,  no  doubt,  is  that  good  coal  is  so  cheap  at  our  glass-making  centers  as  not  to  make 
economy  of  fuel  a  necessity,  and  in  addition  to  this  the  heavy  first  cost  of  the  furnace  and  the  royalty  asked  have 
interfered  with  its  adoption.  Their  use  in  this  country  during  the  census  year  was  confined  almost  exclusively  to 
plate-glass  works. 

Other  forms  of  gas  pot  furnaces,  however,  have  been  recently  introduced  to  some  extent,  especially  in  the 
vicinity  of  Pittsburgh.  These  are  known  locally  as  the  Nicholson  and  the  Gill  furnaces.  Of  the  principle  of  the 
former  I  have  not  been  able  to  secure  any  description ;  but  it  is  an  improved  form  of  a  French  furnace,  and  differs 
from  the  Siemens  in  not  having  the  alternate  regenerators.  The  dimensions  of  one  built  in  1880  for  Messrs. 
MeKee  &  Bros.,  glassware  manufacturers  of  Pittsburgh,  were  as  follows :  Height  of  stack,  80  feet ;  diameter  at  the 
foundation,  22  feet  10  inches;  in  the  furnace  at  the  floor,  18  feet  10  inches  in  the  clear,  and  contains  12  pots,  each 
44  by  60  inches,  of  a  capacity  of  3,800  pounds  each,  or  45,600  pounds  at  a  single  melt.  It  is  expected  to  make  four 
rounds  and  a  half  per  week,  equal  to  102J  tons  of  metal.  There  are  three  large  gas-producers,  in  which  ordinary 
coal  dust  or  slack,  a  very  cheap  material,  is  used.  The  so-called  Gill  glass  furnace  is  an  improvement  on  the 
Boetius  principle,  which  has  been  so  successfully  used  in  Germany.  This  furnace  has  flues  arranged  around  the 
outer  walls  of  the  fireplace,  or  in  the  walls  between  the  fireplaces,  for  the  purpose  of  conveying  air  to  the  combustible 
gases  evolved  from  the  fuel.  It  is  claimed  that  its  original  cost  is  much  less  than  the  Siemens  or  any  other  form 
of  gas  furnace ;  that  the  direct-firing  furnaces  can  be  remodeled ;  that  the  heat  received  is  inteuser,  more  uniform, 
and  is  more  easily  controlled,  while  the  quantity  of  fuel  is  much  reduced  below  that  of  the  ordinary  furnace,  and  an 
inferior  quality  can  be  used.  The  life  of  the  pets  is  also  greater. 

COMPAKTMENT  OB  TANK  FURNACES. — While  the  application  of  gas  to  pot  furnaces  marks  a  most  important 
advance  in  glass-making,  the  invention  of  the  tank  furnace  and  its  use  with  gas  is  a  still  more  important  and 
marked  improvement,  and  promises  to  have  a  great  influence  on  the  future  of  the  industry.  In  this  furnace  the 
use  of  the  melting-pot  is  entirely  abandoned.  In  the  first  Siemens  tank  furnace  of  1861  the  batch  was  charged, 
melted  in,  and  worked  from  a  tank  which  occupied  the  whole  bed.  This  in  use  was  found  to  have  some  drawbacks, 
and  in  1872  a  still  further  development  of  the  tank  furnace  was  effected  by  dividing  the  tank,  by  means  of  two 
transverse  floating  bridges,  into  three  compartments,  in  the  first  of  which  the  batch  was  melted,  in  the  second  the 
glass  was  refined,  while  the  third  held  the  thoroughly  purified  glass,  from  which  it  was  worked  out  continuously. 
These  floating  bridges,  however,  were  rapidly  destroyed  by  the  heat  of  the  molten  glass,  and  a  still  further 
improvement,  which  has  largely  increased  the  melting  capacity  of  the  furnace,  has  been  made  by  the  substitution 
of  a  floating  refining  vessel  in  place  of  the  floating  bridges.  In  this  latest  form  the  batch  is  charged  from  time 
to  time  through  a  door  at  one  end  of  the  furnace.  The  glass,  upon  melting,  sinks  and  travels  on  toward  the 
gathering  holes,  at  the  other  end,  in  a  partially  refined  condition.  Opposite  each  gathering  hole  a  refining  vessel 
is  floated,  which  gathers  the  molten  glass  at  the  lowest  possible  depth  in  the  tank  and  raises  it  to  the  surface  to  be 
completely  refined  in  a  compartment  prepared  for  that  purpose,  from  whence,  ou  sinking,  it  can  only  flow  into  the . 
working-out  compartment.  From  this  last  compartment  the  glass  may  be  worked  out  continuously,  the  flow  of  the 
metal  therein,  and  its  assortment  in  the  different  stages  of  its  manufacture,  being  entirely  effected  by  the  varying 
densities  of  the  particles  subjected  to  the  heat  of  the  furnace.  Owing  to  this  important  feature  it  will  be  seen 

1075 


38 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


that  only  the  best  glass,  which  is  the  heaviest,  can  reach  the  compartment  of  the  vessels  from  which  it  is  to  be 
gathered,  the  imperfectly-melted  metal  remaining  in  the  tank  as  long  as  needful  for  proper  fusion.  The  refining 
vessels  are  made  of  pot-clay,  and  vary  somewhat  in  size  and  form,  according  to  the  character  and  quality  of  glass 
intended  to  be  produced.  The  gathering  compartment  is  sometimes  made  entirely  open,  sometimes  covered  wholly 
or  partially  with  a  hood ;  but  in  all  cases  the  vessels  are  floated  on  the  metal  in  the  tank,  and  are  constructed  so 
as  to  be  easily  removed  when  worn  out.  By  the  employment  of  these  refining  vessels  dividing  bridges  in  the  tanks 
are  no  longer  required,  and  thus  that  part  of  the  structure  which  in  the  first  forms  of  continuoas  glass-melting 
furnaces  was  subject  to  the  most  wear  is  done  away  with.  Another  advantage  is  found  in  the  circumstance  that  the 
ends  of  the  blowing-canes,  which  sometimes  break  off  in  the  glass,  may  be  easily  picked  out  from  the  bottom  of  a 
refining  vessel,  instead  of  its  being  necessary  from  tune  to  time  to  empty  a  tank,  in  order  to  remove  as  useless  the 
glass  discolored  by  the  accidental  introduction  of  iron.  The  color  of  the  glass  made  in  a  tank  may  be  altered 
from  time  to  time,  as  required,  without  interrupting  the  blowers ;  and  for  this  purpose  it  is  only  necessary  to  cease 
charging  batch  into  the  furnace  for  a  few  hours,  when  some  of  the  new  glass  mixture  is  introduced,  and  further 
charges  are  made  at  regular  intervals.  According  to  the  productive  capacity  of  a  tank,  the  change  of  color  will  be 
effected  in  from  three  to  five  days,  and  only  a  few  hundred -weight  of  mixed  metal  is  formed,  which  has  to  be  ladled 
out.  For  works  requiring  the  regular  production  of  glass  of  different  colors  or  characters,  in  insufficient  quantities 
of  each  sort  to  warrant  the  erection  of  a  special  furnace  for  each  variety,  the  tank  may  be  divided  into  two  or  more 
compartments,  or  several  large  pots  may  be  set  in  a  furnace,  each  of  which  shall  have  the  desired  number  of 
refining  vessels.  By  surrounding  these  pots  with  sand  they  will  be  much  strengthened,  so  that  they  may  be  made 
larger  than  usual,  and  thus  form  several  small  tanks  in  one  furnace,  which  can  easily  be  removed  when  required. 
In  this  manner  the  continuous  melting  process  may  be  applied  to  both  large  and  small  productions,  and  will  therefore 
be  of  interest  to  all  glass  manufacturers. 

The  principal  advantages  resulting  from  the  use  of  the  continuous-melting  furnaces  are  claimed  to  be : 

1.  Increased  power  of  production,  as  the  full  melting  heat  may  be  employed  without  interruption,  while  with 
the  old  method  of  melting  nearly  one-half  of  the  time  is  lost  by  cooling  and  settling  the  metal,  the  working  out  of 
the  glass,  and  the  reheating  of  the  furnace. 

2.  Economy  in  working,  as  only  one-half  the  number  of  men  are  required  for  the  melting  operations. 

3.  Durability  of  the  furnaces,  owing  to  the  uniform  temperature  to  which  they  are  subjected. 

4.  Regularity  of  working  and  improved  quality  of  the  glass  made. 

5.  Convenience  to  the  men  and  advantage  to  the  manufacturers,  as  owing  to  the  continuous  action  the  metal  is 
always  ready  for  the  blowers,  and  the  gatherers  can  draw  the  metal  from  a  practically  constant  level. 

6.  For  the  manufacture  of  window-glass  the  working-out  end  of  the  furnace  may  be  so  arranged  that  the 
blowers  can  work  without  interfering  with  the  gatherers.    This  would  do  away  with  the.  separate  blowing  furnace 
now  in  use. 

The  greater  durability  of  the  tank  is  not  only  due  to  the  uniform  temperature  maintained,  but  also  to  the 
circumstance  that  the  batch  is  charged  iu  such  quautities  at  a  time  as  not  to  come  into  contact  with  either  the 
sides  or  the  bottom  of  the  tank,  which,  consequently,  are  not  suddenly  cooled  or  eaten  away  by  the  mixture. 
Furnaces  containing  as  few  as  four  gathering-holes,  while  others  of  greater  capacity — up  to  thirty-two  gathering- 
holes — are  now  in  operation,  the  latter  being  worked  with  a  consumption  of  one  ton  of  lignite  per  ton  of  glass 
bottles  produced,  which,  having  regard  to  the  calorific  power  of  that  fuel,  is  equivalent  to  the  small  consumption 
of  10  hundred- weight  of  coal  to  the  ton  of  glass  melted,  molded  into  bottles,  and  annealed.  As  showing  the  results 
obtained  with  the  second  style  of  tank  we  give  the  following  statement  from  one  of  Mr.  Siemens'  pamphlets, 
showing  the  work  done  during  five  consecutive  weeks  in  a  continuous  tank  furnace  by  one  of  the  extensive  glass 
manufacturing  companies  of  England.  It  should  be  noted  that  at  the  time  this  statement  was  taken  the  furnace 
was  working  but  two  shifts  out  of  the  twenty-four  hours,  whereas  it  can  be  as  readily  worked  continously  three 
shifts  in  twenty-four  hours : 


Week  ending- 

COAL  UBED. 

BOTTLES  DECLARED. 

' 

Number 
of  chairs 
used  on  all 
shifts  dur- 
ing the 
week. 

Declared 
bottles 
per  cliair 
}>er 
lift. 

BOTTLES  DRAWN. 

PER  TON  (2,240  POUXD8)  OF 
BOTTLES  DBAWN. 

Producers. 

Kilns. 

Total. 

Batch. 

Dozen. 

Weight. 

Dozen. 

Weight. 

Coal  in 
pas-pro- 

(Ulcers, 
exclusive 
of  kilns. 

Total 
coal,  in- 
cluding 

Kilns. 

Batch. 

February  19,  1875  

Pounds. 
90,  720 
84,000 
80,640 
73,  920 
78,  400 

Pound*. 
26,  880 
26,  880 
26,880 
26,  880 
33,600 

Pounds. 
117,  600 
110,  880 
107,  520 
100,  800 
112,000 

Pounds. 
70,  000 
101,360 
84,  000 
88,  480 
112,  000 

3,873 
4,124 
4,057 
4,450 
4,960 

Pounds. 
55,  272 
58,  406 
57,  008 
66,  276 
67,  872 

40 
40 
40 
45 
49 

96.8 
103.1 
101.4 
98.9 
*  101.  2 

3,698 
3,867 
3,733 
4,070 
4,609 

Pounds. 
51,  828 
54,  600 
52,  416 
56,  364 
62,608 

3,942 
3,449 
3,427 
2,912 
2,800 

5,  017 
4,547 
4,592 
3,987 
3,987 

3,146 
4,144 
3,584 
3,516 
3,987 

February  26  1875  

March  5  1875 

March  12  1875 

March  19,  1875  

1076 


*  One  chair  missed  a  journey. 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


39 


The  accompanying  diagrams,  from  drawings  kindly  famished  me  by  Messrs.  Eichmond  &  Potts,  of  Philadelphia, 
give  an  idea  of  this  furnace,  Figs.  1  and  2  showing  a  four-  or  six-hole  window-glass  furnace,  which  at  any  time 


Jtig.l. 

may  be  doubled  in  capacity  by  adding  the  same  number  of  blowing-  and  gathering-holes  at  the  other  end  and  charging 
at  the  center. 

These  double-end  furnaces  are  in  use  in  Europe  with  the  best  satisfaction.    No  Siemens'  tank  furnaces  were  in 
operation  in  this  country  in  the  census  year.     One  was  building  at  Poughkoppsie,  and  has  since  been  started,  but 


not  with  very  good  results.  One  has  since  been  built  in  Illinois,  and  its  operation  has  been  attended  with  good 
success.  A  number  of  tank  furnaces  of  various  designs  were  in  operation  or  building  during  the  census  year, 
however.  These  furnaces  were  generally  oblong,  resembling  an  iron-puddling  furnace  in  construction  and  operation, 
or  were  simply  a  large  round  pot.  I  have  no  specific  details  of  their  construction  or  operation,  but  they  seem  to 
have  been  quite  successful  and  economical. 

POT-CLAY. — The  pots  used  in  melting  are  made  from  certain  varieties  of  fire-clay,  termed  pot-clay,  from  its 
use  for  this  purpose.  The  clay  adapted  to  the  manufacture  of  pots  should  be  as  pure  as  possible,  and  be  very 
refractory,  breaking  with  a  clear,  smooth,  bright  fracture,  unctuous  to  tlie  touch,  free  from  lime  and  sulphide  of 
iron,  and  the  less  oxide  of  iron  the  better.  The  shale  or  slate-clay  from  Stourbridge,  England,  which  is  brown  in 
color,  has  a  wide  reputation,  and  is  largely  used  in  British  glass  houses,  but  the  foreign  clays  most  generally 
employed  in  this  country  are  German,  though  American  clnys  are,  to  a  large  extent,  taking  the  place  of  the  foreign. 
The  clays  most  largely  used  in  the  European  glass  houses  are  those  from  Forges-les-Eaux,  in  France;  Andeunes 
and  Xiinmr, in  Belgium;  Stourbridge,  in  England;  G!eu-borg,  in  Scotland;  Sargenau, in  Switzerland;  Schwarzenfell, 
in  Bavaria,  and  Klingenthal,  in  Germany.  In  this  country  there  arc  large  deposits  of  excellent  pot-clays  in  many 
localities.  Those  that  are  used,  however,  are  chiefly  drawn  from  western  Pennsylvania,  Missouri,  and  New  Jersey, 
though  the  clays  of  Maryland.  Ohio,  and  Indiana  are  to  some  extent  used.  When  America-!  clay  was  first 
used  it  did  not  give  the  satisfaction  that  its  analysis  would  indicate.  This  was  owing  to  lack  of  skill  in  its 

1077 


40 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


preparation,  but  as  this  has  been  acquired  American  clay  is  rapidly  gaining  in  favor.  Mr.  Thomas  Coffin,  of 
Pittsburgh,  one  of  the  oldest  pot-makers  of  this  country,  writes  me  regarding  the  use  and  relative  value  of  German 
and  American  clays,  as  follows : 

About  three-fifths  of  the  clay  used  in  this  country  is  foreign  clay,  principally  German.  Window-,  bottle-,  and  plate-glass  houses  use 
the  largest  proportion  of  German  clay,  some  making  their  pots  entirely  of  German,  others  of  a  mixture  of  German  and  American.  Nearly 
all  the  flint  houses  use  pots  made  entirely  of  American  clay,  although  a  few  mix  some  foreign.  It  is  found  by  experience  that  the 
American  (Missouri)  clay  will  stand  a  more  intense  heat  than  any  other,  but  that  the  German  clay  resists  the  action  of  the  flux. better: 
hence  the  mixture  of  the  two  to  overcome  as  nearly  as  possible  the  two  difficulties.  American  clay  is  fast  superseding  German  clay 
because  of  the  hotter-running  furnaces  that  are  now  being  used. 

Our  American  clay  is  much  purer  than  the  German,  and  is  more  refractory,  but  not  as  dense.  It  is  much  less 
costly,  however,  and  must  eventually  supersede  the  German. 

COMPOSITION  OF  POT-CLAY. — The  composition  of  pot-clay  from  different  localities  is  given  in  the  following 
table : 


Localities  and  kinds  of 
clay. 

Chemist  or  authority. 

Silica,  including 
gand. 

Alumina. 

•S 

2 

£ 

Magnesia. 

Carbonate  of  mag- 
nesia. 

Potassa. 

I 

Sulphur. 

1 

I 

Stonrbridgo,  England: 

•Willis            

Per  cent. 
67  34 

Per  cent. 
21.03 

Percent. 
2.03 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 
8  24 

Per  cent 
100  00 

64  05 

23.15 

1  85 

0  10 

10  00 

100  00 

65  10 

22.22 

1.92 

0.14 

0.18 

0  18 

9  86 

99  60 

Do 

C  Tookey 

63  30  . 

23.30 

1.80 

0.73 

10  30 

99  43 

61  45 

24  68 

1  67 

0  10 

0  20 

10  90 

Belgium: 

Bischof 

46  64 

34.78 

1.80 

0.68 

0.41 

0  41 

1  27 

96  ~f> 

German  : 

D  Tal  Aran 

46  44 

36  95 

1  64 

0  69 

0  48 

Do 

70.60 

23.60 

0.36 

0.45 

1.10 

3.89 

71  31 

15.66 

1  19 

0.28 

0  63 

Trace. 

9  70 

Kerl 

46  97 

37.95 

0  95 

0.04 

0.11 

3  00 

10  02 

47  33 

35.05 

2.30 

0.16 

1.11 

3  18 

10  51 

French: 

55  40 

26  40 

4  20 

12  00 

American  : 
Cheltenham,  Missouri  : 

Litton  

61  02 

25.64 

1.70 

0.70 

0.08 

0.48 

0.05 

0.45 

9  68 

100  00 

do 

59  60 

26  41 

1  61 

1  00 

0  07 

0  29 

0  16 

0  38 

10  48 

100  00 

Dixon,  Missouri  : 

56  02 

28  86 

1.67 

1.76 

0.34 

11  12 

Washed 

do.  .  . 

55  06 

30.02 

1.57 

2  20 

0.41 

10  54 

Weiss         

63  75 

26.60 

0.75 

Trace. 

0.85 

0.40 

2.25 

7  40 

100  00 

Oak  Hill  Missouri 

64  32 

22  82 

1  75 

0  45 

0  12 

0  23 

0  54 

0  12 

10  96 

100  58 

63  10 

.     **  °* 
23  70 

2  20 

0  09 

0  06 

0  04 

0  08 

10  73 

43  88 

40  96 

0  82 

Traces. 

13  99 

99  65 

70  18 

20  99 

0.65 

0.13 

0.08 

7.75 

Professor  Cook   

59  93 

26.95 

1.24 

0.07 

Trace. 

Trace. 

10  20 

Salvetat 

72  3j 

16  75 

1  29 

2  00 

0  07 

7  98 

ware. 

MANUFACTURE  OF  POTS. — The  manufacture  of  the  melting-pots  for  a  glass  furnace  is  one  of  the  most 
important,  careful,  and  tedious  of  the  operations  about  a  glass  works.  From  the  digging  of  the  clay  till  it  is  refined, 
mixed,  kneaded,  and  built  into  pots,  and  these  are  thoroughly  dried,  heated,  and  set  in  the  furnace,  two  or  three 
years  often  pass.  The  pots  themselves  are  costly,  the  setting  difficult  and  expensive,  and  if  they  are  improperly 
made  or  spoiled  in  drying,  heating,  or  setting,  and  break,  the  entire  batch  frequently  is  lost,  and  in  many 
instances  consequential  damages  ensue  from  the  delays  and  loss  of  output.  The  importance  of  having  good  pots 
is  so  great  that  many  manufacturers  are  not  willing  to  depend  upon  outside  makers  to  supply  them,  though  this 
opposition  to  outside  pot-makers  is  not  so  great  as  it  was  a  few  years  since.  It  is  estimated  now  that  about 
one-half  of  the  pots  used  in  the  country  are  not  made  at  the  glass  works.  The  clay,  having  been  allowed  to  ripen 
or  putrefy  a  sufficient  time,  is  mixed  into  a  thick  paste  with  water  and  from  one-fifth  to  one-fourth  its  weight  of 
finely-ground  old  pots  or  "potsherds  ",  and  is  thoroughly  kneaded  by  tramping  until  it  is  of  the  toughness  of  putty. 
This  mixture  dries  more  rapidly,  contracts  less  when  drying,  and  better  resists  the  action  of  the  fire  and  materials 
of  the  glass  than  the  pure  clay.  The  kneaded  clay  is  then  made  into  long  rolls  and  built  up  by  hand,  little  by  little, 
into  the  solid  compact  pot,  no  machinery  being  used,  and  care  being  taken  to  keep  it  free  from  air  cavities.  The  pots 
are  not  built  up  at  once,  but  after  placing  a  layer,  each  pot  is  permitted  to  stand  and  set,  being  kept  carefully  covered. 

A  good  pot  maker  and  his  assistants  can  furnish  one  pot  a  day.    After  the  pots  are  made,  great  care  is  taken  to 
1078 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  41 

dry  them  thoroughly.  In  summer  the  natural  temperature  is  sufficient,  but  in  winter  they  are  kept  at  from  60° 
to  70°  F.,  care  being  taken  not  to  allow  them  to  freeze.  The  pots  are  allowed  to  dry  from  four  to  eight  months, 
and  when  they  are  ready  for  use  their  temperature  is  very  gradually  and  cautiously  increased,  first  in  a  warmer 
room  and  then  in  the  annealing  arch,  until  they  reach  the  temperature  of  the  working  furnace,  when  they  are 
immediately  placed  in  the  furnace  or  "set".  Tke  soundness  of  the  pots  is  tested  by  throwing  a  small  lump  of  coal 
against  the  side.  If  it  rings  well,  it  is  regarded  as  a  good  pot;  but  if  dull,  it  will  probably  be  short-lived,  though 
this  test  is  not  always  conclusive. 

THE  SETTING  OF  THE  POTS  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  and  laborious  of  the  operations  at  a  glass  Avorks. 
Mr.  Henry  Chance  remarks: 

The  terrible  task  of  setting  these  pots  in  the  furnace  falls  upon  the  glass-house  crew,  and  the  nicety  with  which  these  enormous 
vessels  are  adjusted  in  their  place,  in  tlie  teeth  of  a  consuming  fire,  is,  perhaps,  that  operation  which,  in  the  many  marvels  of  glass-making, 
would  most  astonish  a  stranger  to  such  scenes. 

LIFE  OF  POTS. — Tke  average  duration  of  open  pots  when  thus  fixed  is  about  seven  weeks;  but  some  attain  the 
age  of  ten  or  twelve  weeks,  while  others,  as  every  manufacturer  well  knows,  terminate  their  existence  prematurely, 
either  from  the  naturally  defective  constitution  of  the  pot,  or  from  bad  treatment  in  the  pot  arch,  or,  more 
frequently,  from  its  having  been  "starved";  that  is,  exposed  to  a  current  of  cold  air  in  the  furnace  through  the 
neglect  of  the  attendant.  Flint  pots  have  a  much  longer  life,  averaging  perhaps  three  months,  single  pots  sometimes 
lasting  ten  months.  In  a  ten-pot  lime-flint  furnace  at  Pittsburgh  but  21  pots  were  set  in  a  year.  "Misfortunes 
never  come  singly"  is  an  adage  applicable  to  the  catastrophes  of  pots,  and  it  was  truly  remarked  to  a  manufacturer, 
at  a  period  when  such  calamities  were  frequent,  "Your  pots  break  because  they  break."  The  breakage  of  a 
pot  often  disturbs  the  furnace  to  such  an  extent  that  the  breakage  of  others  frequently  follows,  and  many  weeks 
will  sometimes  elapse  before  the  disorganization  thus  produced  can  be  rectified.  The  loss  of  a  pot  and  the  "  metal " 
contained  is  nothing  as  compared  with  the  injury  which  the  glass  in  the  surviving  pots,  and  the  pots  themselves, 
are  apt  to  sustain. 

SIZE  OF  POTS. — The  size  of  pots,  not  only  in  different  countries  but  in  the  different  works  of  the  same  country 
and  in  the  manufacture  of  different  kinds  of  glass,  varies.  The  pots  for  the  plate-glass  houses  of  this  country  range 
from  30  to  35  inches  in  diameter;  window-glass,  from  40  to  44  inches;  bottle- 
glass,  44  to  60  inches,  and  flint  from  33  inches  in  diameter  at  the  bottom  to 
an  oval  52  inches  wide  by  63  inches  long  at  the  bottom  and  54  inches  high. 
The  English  pots  for  blown  window-glass  are  from  42  to  65  inches  outside 
diameter ;  the  French  1.10  meters  (43.41  inches)  at  top,  0.92  meter  (36.223 
inches)  at  bottom,  and  1.12  meters  (44.09  inches)  inside  height;  the  Belgian 
about  48  inches  (say  1.10  by  1.30  meters);  the  German  contain  from  140  to 
180  cubic  feet ;  and  the  Austrian  from  500  to  600  millimeters.  Flint-glass 
pots  are  generally  smaller,  say  from  36  to  40  inches,  while  those  used  in  the  Bohemian  glass  houses  are  stated  by 
Mr.  Colne  to  hold  only  160  pounds  of  batch.  Pots  for  colored  glass  are  also  very  small. 

SHAPE  OF  POTS. — Pots  for  all  glass  but  flint  are  open  truncated  cones,  the  smallest  diameter  being  at  the 
bottom.  Even  some  flint-glass  pots  are  used  uncovered  in  the  gas  furnaces,  but  usually  they  are  covered  as 
represented  in  the  accompanying  cuts. 


CHAPTEE  VI.— MIXING,  MELTING,  FINING,  AND  FAULTS. 


INFLUENCES  THAT  DETERMINE  THE  CHARACTER  OF  GLASS. — The  materials  for  the  manufacture  of  glass 
when  properly  mixed  and  ready  for  melting  are  technically  known  as  the  "  batch  "  or  "  mix;",  but  it  is  impossible  to 
lay  down  any  standard  and  invariable  proportion  of  these  materials  for  the  several  kinds  of  glass.  As  has  already 
been  shown,  glass  is  by  no  means  a  definite  compound  when  made,  and  the  proportions  of  materials  are  subject  to 
even  greater  variations  than  the  product.  The  batch  not  only  differs  for  the  several  kinds  of  glass,  but  makers  of 
the  same  kind  use  the  materials  in  widely  varying  proportions,  and  even  the  same  maker  is  often  compelled  to 
vary  his  mixture  from  day  to  day,  either  by  reason  of  the  varying  character  of  his  materials  or  the  melting  power 
of  his  furnace.  A  variation  iu  the  sand  or  alkali  will  change  the  color  and  call  for  a  change  of  the  amount  of  the 
decolorizer  used.  When  the  furnace  draught  is  good,  or  the  furnace  works  "  hot ",  as  it  does  on  a  cold,  clear  day, 
the  melting  is  more  perfect  and  less  alkali  need  be  used;  but  when  it  works  "  cold",  from  insufficient  draft  or  heavy 
atmosphere,  more  alkali  is  needed,  and  the  glass  is  inferior.  To  properly  manipulate  the  melting,  in  view  of  these 
varying  circumstances,  is  the  work  of  the  teaser,  and  his  success  in  thus  manipulating  them  indicates  his  skill. 

CONSTITUENTS  OF  THE  BATCH. — As  indicating  the  general  composition  of  the  batch  for  the  different  kinds 
of  glass  in  different  countries  we  have  selected  the  following  receipts,  which  are  given  in  tabular  form.  These 
must,  however,  be  regarded  as  only  approximate,  for  the  reason  already  given,  and  for  the  further  reason  that 
manufacturers  guard  with  the  utmost  jealousy  tbe  special  composition  they  use  to  obtain  the  best  results  in  their 
furnaces. 

1(179 


42 


MANUFACTUKE  OF  GLASS. 

PROPORTION  OF  MATERIALS  USED  FOR  PLATE-GLASS. 


Constituents. 

FRENCH. 

r.sGi.isn. 

Saint- 
Goblan.* 

Saint- 
Gobaiu.t 

No.  i.; 

No.  2.$ 

Sand                    

Pound*. 
100 

Pounds. 
100.0 

Parti. 
400 

Parts. 
720 

35 

60.0 

250 

450 

25 
80 

Niter                                         

5 

13.0 

Chalk 

30 

1.0 
0.5 

Smolt 

*  Authority :  Knapp.     t  Authority :  Bastinaire.    J  Authority :  Pellatt.    5  Authority :  Lippincott's  Cyclopedia. 
PROPORTION  OF  MATERIALS  USED  IN  WINDOW-GLASS. 


Pittsburgh  * 

1  KKNril. 

ESGLISH.t 

No.  l.t 

No.  2.  1 

No.  3.; 

No.  1. 

No.  2. 

No.  3. 

gand                         

Pounds. 

8,000 

Parti. 
100 

Parts. 
100 

Parts. 
100 

Pound*. 
500 

Pounds. 
448 

Chat. 
16 

2  200 

44 

58    to    75 

63 

17 

1.25 

28  to  35 

119 

168 

5 

S"  500 

6 

13    to    15 

Chalk 

35  to  40 

154 

146 

5 

40 

4 

4  5  to    55 

no 

0  20 

2 

2 

0.25 

*  Authority :  Pittsburgh  manufacturers. 


t  Lippincott's  Cyclopaedia. 


{Authority:  Dumas. 


PROPORTION  OF  MATERIALS  USED  FOR  FLINT  (LEAD)  GLASS. 
[The  usual  rule  for  flint  glass  is  expressed  3 : 2 : 1  or  3  of  sand,  2  of  lead,  and  1  of  potash.  ] 


FRENCH. 

Optical,  t 

No.  1.  $ 

No.  2.  [| 

Sand 

Pound*. 
1  500 

Partt 
336 

Parts. 
43.5 

Parts. 
100.0 

Partt. 
300 

tot 

224 

43.5 

80  to  85.  0 

215 

500 

112 

10.0 

35  to  40.  0 

110 

Niter 

2  to    30 

Saltpeter  

150 

14  to  28 

3.0 

10 

4  to  12  oz. 

0.5 

12 

14 

7 

•Authority:  Pittsburgh  manufacturers.        t  Authority :  Pellatt.        J  Authority :  Bontemps.        §  Authority  :  Loysel.        ||  Authority :  Dumas. 

PROPORTIONS  OF  MATERIALS  USED  FOR  FLINT  (LIME)  GLASS. 
[Sometimes  a  few  hundredths  of  saltpeter,  borax,  and  red  lead  are  added.] 


Constituents. 

Pittsburgh.* 

Bohemian.t 

French.  J 

Lime- 
white,  t 

Clear 
white,  t 

Chemical,  t 

Sand  

Pounds. 
I  500 

Parts. 

Part*. 
300 

Partt. 
100 

Partt. 
100.0 

Parts. 
100.0 

100  00 

60  00 

30 

65.0 

41.4 

500 

. 
170 

150 

75 

18 

6  0 

17.5 

Chalk 

8  00 

0.75 

0.5 

Charcoal     

10 

Arsenic  

200 

1080 


'Authority:  Pittsburgh  manufacturers.        t  Authority:  Lippincott's  Cyclopaedia.        {Authority:  Coins'. 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


43 


PROPORTION  OF  MATERIALS  USED  TOR  BOTTLE  GLASS. 


Constituents. 

Pittsburgh.* 

French,  t 

English.  ; 

Belgian,  t 

Pounds. 
8,000 

Parti. 
100 

Partt. 
100 

Partt. 
10 

8 

15 

pQ  h                    (1 

2  200 

20 

Lime  slicked 

24 

80 

Limestone 

2  400 

5 

Salt 

250 

3 

80 

PlftV 

5 

•Authority:  Pittsburgh  manufacturers.  tAuthority:  Coln6.    The  sand  contains  about  20  per  cent  of  calcareous  matter.  {Authority:  PeUatt. 

MIXING  THB  BATCH. — Upon  the  thorough  mixing  of  the  materials  depends  in  some  degree  the  homogeneity, 
and,  consequently,  the  structure  and  value  of  the  glass.  These  materials  differ  so  much  iu  their  specific  gravities 
that  the  thorough  mixing,  as  well  as  the  melting,  is  a  work  of  some  difficulty.  In  this  country,  with  the  aid  of 
a  coarse  sieve  and  shovel,  the  mixing  is  generally  done  by  hand.  Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  introduce 
mechanical  mixers,  but,  though  some  are  used,  they  have  been  discarded  in  many  works,  and  the  older  method  is 
employed.  Where  manual  labor  is  as  high-priced  as  in  this  country,  the  introduction  of  a  satisfactory  mixer 
would  seem  very  desirable.  In  England  several  machines  are  used,  that  of  Mr.  Chance  being  a  very  simple 
machine,  consisting  of  a  wooden  cylinder  with  a  number  of  revolving  oblique  beaters;  but  Cooper's  mixer  is  a 
revolving  barrel,  similar  to  those  used  in  powder  works. 

FRITTING. — At  the  present  time  the  materials  thus  mixed  are  charged  directly  into  the  pot  or  tank,  as  the 
case  may  be.  When  the  impure  alkalies  obtained  from  sea-weed  or  wood-ashes  were  used  the  batch  was  submitted 
to  a  preliminary  reamiig  process  termed  "fritting".  This  consisted  in  stirring  the  materials  together  under  the 
heat  of  a  reverberatory  furnace,  called  a  "calcar  arch",  which  effected  a  partial  decomposition  and  the  burning  of 
any  carbonaceous  matter  that  might  be  present,  and  the  "frit"  thus  obtained  was  rernelted  in  the  pots.  With  the 
use  of  the  purer  alkalies  made  from  salt  this  fritting  is  not  necessary,  though  heating  the  batch  in  the  arch  may  be 
desirable. 

CHARGING. — The  pots  having  been  heated  to  a  white  heat,  the  materials,  mixed  with  a  proportion,  generally 
one-third,  of  ctillet  of  the  same  kind  as  the  glass  to  be  made,  are  shoveled  into  them.  Mechanical  chargers  have 
been  used  to  some  extent  in  this  country,  but  not  very  successfully.  As  the  melted  glass  is  less  in  bulk  than  the 
materials,  the  entire  batch  is  not  charged  at  one  time.  The  pots  are  filled  as  full  as  possible  at  first,  about 
two-thirds  of  the  whole  batch  being  charged,  and  the  remainder  is  shoveled  m  as  the  melting  and  sinking  of 
materials  permit.  Two  or  three  shovelings  or  fillings  are  sufficient.  During  the  melting  the  grate-bars  are  kept 
well  supplied  with  coal,  to  prevent  a  rush  of  cold  air  into  the  furnaces,  which  might  split  the  pots. 

MELTING. — As  the  melting  progresses  the  teaser  (a)  watches  it  most  carefully,  urging  the  furnaces  to  their 
utmost  intensity  and  determining  the  fitness  or  unfitness  of  tile  metal  for  working,  as  there  are  signs  which 
indicate  to  the  practiced  eye  when  the  metal  is  ready,  such  as  the  color  of  the  flame  or  the  appearance  of  proof 
specimens  taken  from  the  pots  with  a  short  rod  flattened  at  one  end.  The  escape  of  the  carbonic-acid  gas 
answers  the  purpose  of  stirring  the  materials.  When  the  disengagement  of  this  gas  ceases,  especially  in  the 
manufacture  of  window-glass,  the  mass  is  stirred  with  a  pole  of  green  wood,  or  a  piece  of  arseuious  acid  is  thrust 
into  the  bottom  of  the  pot,  thus  causing  a  forcible  expulsion  of  gas  and  consequent  stirring  of  the  materials. 
When  impure  materials  were  used,  the  close  of  the  period  of  melting  found  the  surface  of  the  molten  glass  covered 
with  a  thick  scum  of  unvolatilized  salts,  called  "glass-gall",  or  "sandiver",  which  was  skimmed  off.  The  relative 
proportions  and  the  purer  materials  of  modern  glass  houses  render  this  skimming  unnecessary;  indeed,  the 
appearance  of  ''sandiver"  in  any  quantity  is  regarded  as  an  indication  of  impure  materials  or  wrong  proportions. 

FUSION  AND  FINING. — The  melting  may  be  divided  into  two  periods,  fusion  and  fining  or  refining,  the  first 
ending  when  the  materials  are  thoroughly  melted,  and  the  second  including  the  after  process  of  freeing  the  glass  from 
bubbles,  lime,  and  earthy  impurities  that  do  not  fuse.  For  this  purpose  the  glass  must  be  brought  to  the  most  fluid 
state  possible,  and  the  heat  is  therefore  raised  to  the  highest  point.  This  process  of  fining,  refining,  or  "hot-stoking", 
as  it  is  called  in  this  country  and  in  England,  or  lieias-ischuren,  as  it  is  termed  in  Germany,  involves  a  very  high 
temperature,  which  is  estimated  in  certain  cases  to  reach  from  10,000°  to  12,000°  F.  (b)  Though  the  authority  for 
this  statement  is  very  good,  it  is  doubtless  too  high,  about  3,200°  to  3,GOO  F.  being  the  average.  The  time  of  fusion 
and  refining  should  be  as  short  as  possible,  the  shorter  the  better,  as  long-continued  melting  or  lining  detracts  from 
the  brilliancy  of  the  glass  and  favors  the  formation  of  threads.  The  time  occupied  iu  melting  varies  greatly,  depending 
apon  the  construction  and  character  of  the  furnace,  the  proportion  and  the  character  of  the  materials,  and  the  size  of 


«  The  word  appears  to  be  derived  from  the  French  "  tistur' 


b  Eneyclopa-dia  Entaniiica,  !>th  ed.,  article.  "Glass." 

1031 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


the  pots.  Gas  furnaces  will,  as  a  rule,  make  a  "melt"  in  less  time  than  the  old  style,  and  those  of  the  old  style  that 
use  coal  as  a  fuel  will  melt  in  less  time  than  those  using  wood.  The  larger  the  proportion  of  sand  the  longer  will 
be  the  time,  while  lead  will  hasten  the  melting.  Very  large  pots,  holding,  as  some  English  ones  do,  5,000  pounds 
of  material,  will  consume  48  to  50  hours  in  melting,  while  the  French  pots,  of  from  1,000  to  1,200  pounds,  will  melt 
the  batch  in  12  hours.  This  is  not  uniformly  true,  however,  as  the  pots  in  the  Bohemian  furnaces  are  stated  to 
hold  but  100  pounds,  and  yet  the  melting  occupies  18  hours.  This  is  due  to  the  construction  of  the  furnaces,  the 
use  of  wood,  and  the  materials  used. 

TIME  REQUIRED  TO  MELT  AND  FINE. — In  England  the  time  of  melting  in  the  plate,  crown,  and  sheet  window- 
glass  houses  is  stated  to  be  from  16  to  20  hours,  and  the  time  of  fining  from  4  to  8  hours.  In  France  and  Belgium 
it  is  somewhat  less.  In  this  country  the  time  of  melting  is  about  12  hours,  and  of  fining  from  3  to  4  hours.  In 
green-glass  houses  the  time  occupied  is  about  one-third  less.  This  glass  is  inferior  to  window-glass,  and  the  perfect 
fusion  and  fining  is  not  as  necessary  for  the  purposes  for  which  it  is  used  as  it  is  for  sheet-glass.  The  time  required 
to  make  a  melt  of  flint-glass  is  much  longer  than  that  for  either  of  the  other  kinds  ;  the  pots  being  covered,  the 
heat  is  kept  out  and  the  melting  is  retarded.  The  time  is  shorter  with  lead  as  a  flux  than  with  lime,  but,  as  a  rule, 
twice  as  much  time  is  occupied  as  in  the  melting  of  window-glass.  In  England  the  time  is  from  48  to  60  hours, 
the  batch  being  very  large,  the  melting  consuming  about  five-sixths  of  the  time;  but  in  France,  where  pots  holding 
but  1,600  pounds  are  used,  the  time  of  melting  is  from  8  to  9  hours,  and  of  fining  from  1  to  2  more;  and,  as  already 
stated,  the  Bohemian  houses  require  18  hours  for  a  melt  of  a  160-pound  batch.  In  this  country,  in  lime-glass  houses, 
the  melting  of  a  3,200-pound  batch  consumes  from  20  to  24  hours,  the  fining  from  2  to  4,  and  the  cooling  one-half  an 
hour  to  an  hour,  the  latter  process  being  hastened  by  opening  the  mouth  of  the  pot  and  blowing  the  blast  into  it. 
In  France  thin  pots,  with  a  small  amount  of  batch,  have  been  used  to  hasten  the  melting. 

COLD  STOKING. — When  the  fining  is  completed  the  molten  glass  is  very  fluid,  and  in  this  condition  could  not 
be  worked,  as  it  must  by  cooling  be  brought  to  a  viscid  or  plastic  condition  necessary  for  working.  To  accomplish 
this  the  draught  is  stopped  and  the  grate  bars  are  plastered  or  the  fire  is  covered  with  "  braize"  or  fine  coke.  In 
some  cases  the  blast  is  turned  into  the  pots.  This  is  called  "  cold  stoking  "  or  "  standing  off",  or  by  the  Germans 
"kalt-sch'iiren'\  cold  covering.  In  window-glass  works  this  process  requires  from  one  and  one-half  to  three  hours; 
in  flint  works,  from  one  to  two  hours. 

Loss  IN  MELTING. — As  already  indicated,  the  process  of  melting  results  in  the  disengagement  of  the  gases  that 
are  contained  in  the  materials,  as  the  weight  of  the  glass  is  considerably  less  than  that  of  the  batch.  This  loss, 
however,  is  chiefly  in  the  gases  other  than  oxygen,  though  this  is  expelled  to  some  extent.  Mr.  Henry  Chance  (a) 
states  "that  very  little  alkali  is  lost  by  volatilization  during  the  intense  heat  to  which  it  is  subjected.  I  da  not 
find  in  any  case  a  difference  of  more  than  1  per  cent,  between  the  alkali  in  the  mixture  and  that  in  the  glass 
produced,  and  this  includes  the  waste  that  must  necessarily  arise  in  mixing,  in  carrying  the  materials  to  the  furnace, 
and  throwing  them  into  the  pots".  By  alkali  Mr.  Chance  evidently  means  the  available  alkali  in  the  material 
charged,  and  not  the  entire  amount  of  carbonate  or  sulphate,  as  the  case  may  be.  Some  manufacturers  think  a 
larger  proportion  is  lost.  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Julius  Fahdt  for  the  following  very  interesting  and  complete  table^ 
showing  the  practice  of  the  Austria-Hungarian  glass  houses  : 

DIMENSIONS  OF  POTS  AND  TIME  OF  MELTING  AND  WORKING. 


- 

EXTERIOR  DIMENSIONS. 

CONTEHTB  «— 

DURATION  1M  HOURS  OF— 

Height. 

Diameter. 

Weight. 

Proportion. 

Heating. 

Melting. 

Fining. 

Cooling. 

Working. 

Batch. 

Cullet. 

Millimeters. 
550 
550 

450 
550 

Millimeters. 
600 
600 

450 

600 

Millimeters. 
500 
500 

400 
500 

Kilograms. 
150 
150 

75 
150 

120 
108 

50 
120 

30 
50 

25 
30 

1 
1 

i 

i 

8 
8 

8 
10 

6 
6 

6 
6 

2 

1 

i 

1 

Sheet-glass  (few  exceptions  with  pots, 
as  in  Germany). 

Flint  with  lime  t 

12.00 

10.12 

10.00 

BottlesJ  

*  Small  plate  of  from  50  to  60  square  feet. 

t  According  to  articles. 

J  Bottles  are  nearly  all  made  in  two  large  establishments  with  Siemens'  tank  furnaces.  Lead  glass  is  only  manufactured  in  some  works  for  false  jewelry  in  flint 
and  colors,  in  very  small  pots,  not  exceeding  50  to  60  kilograms,  which  are  worked  out  in  lumps,  cut  and  ground.  About  one-third  of  the  Austrian  glass-meltin;; 
establishments  produce  raw  glass,  which  is  pressed  or  worked  out  in  heavy  pieces  for  prisms,  chandeliers,  and  heavy  ground  articles.  These  are  finished  by  the 
so-called  refiners,  who  buy  the  raw  glass  and  finish  and  sell  it.  A  good  many  sheet-glass  works  only  make  a  very  thin  sheet-glass,  which  is  used  in  looking-glass- 
manufacture.  The  Austrian  window-glass,  with  a  very  few  exceptions,  is  also  very  thin,  generally  not  much  above  one  millimeter.  This  is  the  reason  why  th* 
flmall  pots  require  a  much  longer  time  to  molt  and  work  out.  Austrian  factories  in  general  blow  their  articles  much  lighter  than  in  Germany.  They  require  a 
longer  time  for  melting,  because  their  metal  is  very  hard. 

FAULTS  IN  THE  METAL. — The  faults  in  glass  that  occur  in  connection  with  its  melting  are  chiefly  those  from 
air  or  gas  bubbles,  imperfect  fusion,  and  foreign  substances.  When  the  fining  has  been  obstructed  by  too  great 


1082 


a  On  the  Manufacture  of  Glass,  a  lecture  delivered  before  the  Chemical  Society,  March  19,  1868,  page  8. 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  45 

difficulty  of  fusion,  the  mass  becomes  thick  or  viscid  and  the  bubbles  are  retained,  giving  rise  to  what  are  known 
as  u  seed  ",  "  blibe,"  or  "  blister ".  "When  the  fusion  is  imperfect,  and  the  glass  is  not  uniform  throughout,  the 
density  of  various  parts  of  the  glass  varies  and  refraction  of  light  is  not  equal,  and  consequently  images  of  objects 
seen  through  the  glass  are  distorted  or  out  of  place.  These  faults  are  termed  "  striae  ",  and  when  they  show  on 
the  surface  they  are  termed  "waves".  "Threads"  or  "strings"  are  produced  by  cold  glass  dropping  into  the 
metal  and  not  undergoing  fusion.  "  Tears  "  are  vitrified  portions  of  the  side  or  roofs  of  the  furnace  that  drop  into 
the  pot.  Mr.  Henry  Chance's  resumt  of  the  defects  of  crown  glass  and  their  cause  is  so  indicative  of  the  many 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  producing  perfect  glass  that  I  copy  it :  (a) 

Perhaps  the  glass  has  been  badly  melted  and  is  seedy,  that  is,  full  of  little  vesicles,  to  which  the  rotary  motion  has  given  a  circular 
shape  ;  or  the  gatherer  may  have  inclosed  air  within  his  "  metal",  and  a  gatherer's  blister  is  the  result — or  a  pipe  blister,  or  pipe  scales, 
or  dust  from  the  pipe-nose,  or  dust  from  the  marver,  or  dust  from  the  bottoming-hole,  or  dupt  from  the  nose-hole,  or  dust  from  the 
flashing  furnace,  or  bad  bullions,  or  scratches,  or  mnsic  lines,  may  disfigure  the  table,  or  the  glass  may  be  crizzled,  or  curved,  or  bent,  or 
hard,  or  smoky,  or  small  and  light,  defects  to  explain  which  -would  be  a  long  and  dreary  task. 


CHAPTER  VII.— GLASS-WORKING. 


METHODS  OF  GLASS-WORKING. — It  is  not  the  intention  of  this  report  to  enter  into  the  minute  details  of  the 
various  methods  of  glass-working,  as  it  is  not  intended  that  this  work  shall  be  a  perfect  hand-book  for  beginners 
or  for  skilled  glass-makers.  I  have  only  endeavored,  while  giving  full  and  correct  statistics  of  the  trade  in  the 
United  States,  to  glance  at  the  history  of  glass-making  at  home  and  abroad,  and  to  give  some  general  idea  of  the 
processes  employed  and  of  the  materials  which  enter  into  the  composition  of  glass.  For  these  reasons  I  shall 
here  only  describe  in  a  general  way  the  most  important  processes  used  in  the  manipulation  of  the  melted  glass. 
The  chief  methods  of  working  glass  are  three:  (1),  casting ;  (2),  pressing ;  (3),  blowing.  Casting  and  pressing  are 
closely  related  processes,  and  blowing  and  pressing  are  often  combined  to  produce  certain  forms  of  glass,  but  the 
processes  are  generally  so  distinct  as  to  justify  the  classification  adopted.  Glass  is  also  manipulated  in  many 
ways  that  do  not  properly  fall  under  either  of  these  classes,  but  they  are  of  minor  importance,  and  either  are 
subsidiary  to  one  or  more  of  these  three  methods,  or  are,  strictly  speaking,  reworking  glass. 

PLATE-GLASS. — The  most  important  form  of  cast  glass,  and  the  one  most  largely  produced,  is  plate-glass,  or,  as 
it  might  more  properly  be  called,  cast  plate-glass.  This  is  the  well-known  cast,  ground,  and  polished  plate  used 
for  windows,  mirrors,  etc.,  and  should  not  be  confounded  with  the  blown  plate  and  Chance's  patent  plate,  which  are 
blown  glass.  In  the  manufacture  of  cast  plate  furnaces  and  pots  of  the  ordinary  construction  are  used,  the 
melting-pots,  however,  sometimes  holding  as  much  as  2  or  2J  tons  of  batch.  In  French  works,  and  in  some  others, 
two  forms  of  pots  are  used,  which  are  placed  side  by  side  in  the  furnace :  the  ordinary  melting-pot,  and  an  auxiliary 
pot,  called  a  "cuvette",  large  enough  to  hold  sufficient  glass  to  cast  a  sheet  of  a  given  size.  The  molten  glass  is 
ladled  from  the  pot  into  the  cuvette,  allowed  to  clear,  if  necessary,  and  is  then  cast.  In  most  works,  however,  the 
practice  now  is  to  pour  or  cast  directly  from  the  pot  in  which  the  glass  is  melted,  and  in  other  cases  it  is  ladled  from 
the  pots  to  the  casting  table. 

CASTING  AND  ANNEALING. — The  casting  table,  formerly  made  of  bronze,  is  now  made  of  one  piece  of  cast- 
iron,  (b)  heavy  and  thick,  and  in  width  and  length  exceeding  the  dimensions  of  the  largest  sheet  of  glass.  It  is 
commonly  mounted  on  wheels,  running  on  a  track  laid  down  the  center  of  the  casting  hall  or  room,  on  each  side  of 
which  are  the  annealing  ovens.  A  heavy  cast-iron  roller  the  full  breadth  of  the  table  is  arranged  to  roll  its  whole 
length  by  means  of  a  spur-wheel  on  the  roller  working  in  gearing  on  the  side  of  the  table.  The  height  from  the 
table  at  which  it  rolls,  and  consequently  the  thickness  of  the  glass,  is  regulated  by  narrow  strips  of  metal  placed 
along  the  edge  of  the  table,  while  the  width  is  determined  by  what  is  known  as  the  "  gun  ",  two  plates  of  cast 
metal  bolted  together,  adjustable  to  the  breadth  desired  and  moving  with  the  roller  and  before  it.  All  being  ready 
for  casting,  a  pot  filled  with  the  molten  glass  is  removed  from  the  melting  furnace,  placed  on  a  truck,  and  run  to 
the  casting  table.  The  pot  is  lifted  from  the  truck  by  a  crane,  is  suspended  over  one  end  of  the  table  and  tilted, 
and  the  viscid,  semi-fluid  mass  being  poured  out,  the  roller  is  moved  forward,  flattening  the  glass  and  rolling  it  to  a 
uniform  thickness,  while  the  "gun"  prevents  it  from  spreading  to  a  greater  width  than  is  desired.  As  soon  as  the 
plate  has  solidified  sufficiently  to  bear  moving,  it  is  laid  in  the  annealing  oven  on  the  "  flat "  to  slowly  cool.  All  the 
operations  are  performed  with  the  greatest  rapidity,  that  the  plate  may  be  as  hot  as  possible  when  laid  in  the 
oven.  The  number  of  plates  that  can  be  put  in  an  oven  varies  with  the  size  of  the  plates.  But  one  layer  of  those 

a  Mr.  Henry  Chance  On  the  Manufacture  of  Croicn  and  Sheet  Glass. 

b  In  some  cases,  in  order  to  overcome  the  "  bowing  "  of  the  plate,  it  is  made  in  a  number  of  pieces. 


46  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

designed  for  polishing  can  be  placed  in  it ;  consequently  a  large  number  of  ovens  is  needed  where  large  plates  are 
made.  These  ovens  are  large,  shallow,  brick  reverberatory  furnaces,  with  floors  as  smooth  and  as  level  as  possible,  as 
the  semi-plastic  mass  molds  itself  into  the  unevenness,  and  any  bending  of  the  plates  would  make  them  valueless. 
As  soon  as  the  plate  is  placed  in  the  oven,  all  the  openings  are  carefully  closed  and  the  oven  is  allowed  to  cool 
gradually  to  a  point  where  the  glass  may  be  safely  removed,  generally  requiring  from  three  to  five  days. 

KOUGH  PLATE. — The  cast  plate  as  it  comes  from  the  oven  is  rough  and  irregular  on  its  surface,  constituting 
the  rough  plate  of  commerce,  and  in  this  form  it  is  used  for  roofs  and  floors,  and  even  for  windows  where  light  without 
transparency  is  desired. 

GRINDING,  SMOOTHING,  AND  POLISHING. — The  plates  having  been  examined  for  defects,  such  as  spots,  air- 
bubbles,  etc.,  and,  if  necessary,  cut  into  such  sizes  as  these  defects  require,  the  selected  pieces  are  then  polished, 
which  operation  consists  of  three  processes :  (1),  grinding ;  (2),  smoothing ;  (3),  polishing ;  but  it  is  exceedingly 
difficult  to  describe  these  operations  without  the  aid  of  drawings.  Various  machines  have  been  invented  for  these 
purposes.  The  machine  originally  used  for  grinding  was  known  as  the  "fly-frame"  machine,  the  design  of  which 
is  attributed  to  James  Watt,  and  in  one  form  of  this  machine  commonly  two  or  more  plates,  according  to  their 
size,  are  imbedded  in  plaster  of  paris,  spread  upon  a  table.  Other  plates  are  imbedded  in  the  under  side  of  two 
runner-frames  or  swing-tables,  which  by  a  strong  fixed  bar  are  caused  to  move  with  a  transverse  motion  backward 
and  forward,  a  circular  motion  being  at  the  same  time  imparted  by  means  of  a  vertical  crank-shift,  pivoted  to 
the  central  and  upper  part  of  the  table  and  actuated  by  bevel  gearing.  Four  other  cranks,  one  at  each  corner  of  the 
frame,  serve  to  guide  and  limit  its  motion,  causing  its  central  point  to  describe  a  circle  about  4  feet  in  diameter,  so 
that  different  portions  of  the  faces  of  the  upper  and  lower  glass  plates  are  continually  applied  to  each  other.  Sharp 
river  sand,  sifted  into  two  different  sizes,  is  used  as  an  abradant.  When  the  surface  of  the  lower  plate  has  been 
ground  quite  flat  by  the  coarser  sand  it  is  removed,  and  after  careful  washing  finer  sand  is  substituted.  To  this 
succeeds  emery  powder,  a  coarser  and  then  a  finer  quality  being  applied,  the  glass  being  thoroughly  washed  previous 
to  each  change  of  material,  so  that  none  of  the  coarser  particles  previously  used  may  remain  to  cause  scratches  on  its 
surface.  The  plates  are  then  turned  over,  and  the  same  process  is  repeated  on  the  other  side.  The  smoothing  process 
is  carried  on  with  similar  machines,  the  only  difference  being  that  emery  powder  of  increasing  degrees  of  fineness  is 
employed.  The  polishing  is  done  with  reciprocating  rubbers  covered  with  fine  felt  and  supplied  with  rouge.  The 
table  on  which  the  glass  lies  also  is  given  a  backward-and-forward  transverse  movement,  so  that  all  parts  of  the 
plate  are  brought  under  the  polishing  operation.  About  40  per  cent,  of  the  weight  is  removed  in  these  three 
operations.  Ordinary  plate-glass  varies  in  thickness  from  one-fourth  to  three-eighths  of  an  inch.  The  largest 
plate  ever  made  was  exhibited  by  the  Saint-Gobain  Company  at  the  Paris  exposition  of  1878,  and  measured  21 
feet  2  inches  by  13  feet  6  inches. 

ROLLED  PLATE. — A  form  of  unpolished  plate-glass,  known  as  rolled  plate,  has  been  manufactured  largely  in 
England  for  some  time,  and  has  latterly  begun  to  be  manufactured  in  France  and  Belgium.  This  is  used  for 
coverings  for  hot-houses,  for  door-panels,  for  windows,  for  partitions,  and  for  other  places  where  obscure  light  is 
required.  The  glass  is  not  poured  from  the  pots,  but  is  dipped  from  them  with  a  large  ladle  or  dipper  and  poured 
upon  the  casting  table,  which,  instead  of  being  smooth  aud  plain,  is  engraved  or  indented  in  fine  lines  or  flutes  or  in 
small  squares,  lozenges,  or  even  ornamental  patterns,  the  glass,  of  course,  taking  on  its  lower  surface  the  impression 
of  the  pattern  or  lines  engraved  on  the  table.  The  roller  is  passed  over  the  molten  glass  as  in  the  ordinary  cast 
plate.  These  plates  are  usually  cast  one-eighth  of  an  inch  thick,  aud  in  annealing  a  large  number  are  piled  on 
their  edges  in  the  annealing  oven,  instead  of  a  few  laid  flatwise,  as  is  done  with  plate-glass  which  is  to  be  polished. 
By  this  ladling  process  numerous  "air-bells"  and  imperfections  are  inclosed  in  the  glass,  but  as  it  is  obscured  by 
its  roughness  they  do  not  affect  its  usefulness. 

OPTICAL  GLASS. — The  flint-glass  used  in  the  manufacture  of  opti-cal  instruments  is  also  in  a  certain  sense  a 
cast  glass,  or  at  least  a  massive  glass,  not  manipulated  by  blowing  or  pressing.  For  this  purpose  a  glass  of  the 
utmost  purity,  transparency,  freedom  from  color,  strise,  and  imperfections  is  of  the  highest  importance.  As  has 
been  already  stated,  this  glass  has  a  large  proportion  of  lead.  It  is  melted  in  the  furnace  in  a  single  pot,  and 
Guinand's  secret,  by  which  it  was  first  made  successfully,  consisted  in  constantly  stirring  the  mass  while  in  a 
molten  condition  to  prevent  the  heavier  lead  silicate  from  falling  to  the  bottom.  After  the  glass  is  thoroughly 
melted  the  stirring  is  continued  until  the  contents  are  cooled  down  to  little  more  than  a  red  heat,  when  the  furnace 
is  closed  and  the  metal  is  allowed  to  cool  and  anneal  gradually  in  the  pot  within.  When  withdrawn,  the  pot  is 
broken  and  the  mass  of  glass  removed.  Optical  glass  is  also  blown  into  thick  cylinders,  and  sometimes  is  cast 
in  slabs  from  one-fourth  to  one  inch  in  thickness.  The  crown  optical  glass  is  made  with  as  great  care  as  the  flint, 
but  it  contains  no  lead,  and  has  about  the  same  composition  as  window-glass. 

STKASS. — This  is  the  glass  used  in  the  manufacture  of  the  remarkably  faithful  imitation  of  precious  stones, 
which  have  been  and  are  still  so  common,  and  is  manufactured  somewhat  in  the  same  way  as  optical  glass,  special 
precaution  being  adopted  in  the  melting  of  the  materials.  Formerly  it  was  believed  that  only  rock  crystal  could 
be  used  in  its  manufacture.  This  belief,  however,  is  wholly  without  foundation,  sand  which  is  pure  making  equally 
good  Strass. 

1084 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


47 


PRESSED  GLASS  is,  strictly  speaking,  one  form  of  cast  glass,  the  molten  metal  being  gathered  and  cast  in  a 
mold  which  would  correspond  with  the  table  of  the  plate-glass  works,  the  plunger  of  the  press  answering  to  the 
roller.  There  are,  however,  so  many  and  important  variations  in  the  methods  of 
pressing  as  to  justify  its  classification  as  a  separate  process.  Pressing  by  mechanical 
means  in  metal  molds,  which  is  an  American  invention,  is  a  most  important  and 
valuable  improvement  in  glass-making,  and  by  its  adoption  comparatively  unskilled 
labor  can  be  substituted  for  the  highly  trained  workmen  demanded  by  the  blowing 
process,  and  cheaper  materials  can  be  used.  Labor  as  highly  skilled  as  that  required 
in  glass-blowing  is  not  necessary,  as  intelligent  men  can  be  trained  in  a  short  time  to 
perform  the  work,  and  a  glass  rivaling  lead  flint  in  whiteness  and  clearness,  but  not 
in  brilliancy,  can  be  made  with  lime.  In  the  pressing  process  as  usually  practiced 
a  metallic  plunger  is  driven  into  a  metallic  mold,  into  which  molten  glass  has  leen 
placed  by  mechanical  means,  the  glass  taking  the  form  of  the  mold  upon  its  outer 
surface,  while  the  inner  is  modeled  by  the  plunger  itself.  The  simplest  form  of 
mold  is  a  flat  slab  of  iron  or  other  metal  with  slightly  raised  sides.  For  articles  of 
some  complexity  molds  are  made  in  two  or  more  divisions,  hinged  together  (joint 
molds),  and  opening  outward.  The  chief  parts  of  the  mold  are  termed  the  -'collar" 
and  the  "base".  The  ordinary  form  of  press  used  is  shown  in  the  accompanying 
cut,  the  mold,  with  its  handles,  being  shown  on  the  table  of  the  press.  The  molten 
glass  having  been  gathered  and  dropped  into  the  mold,  a  sufficient  quantity  is  cut 
off,  the  mold  is  pushed  under  the  plunger,  and  the  long  lever  at  the  right  of  the  press 
is  pulled  down.  The  plunger  enters  the  mold,  the  glass  is  pressed  into  all  parts  of 
the  same,  the  plastic  mass  solidities,  the  plunger  is  withdrawn,  the  mold  opened,  and  the  glass  in  the  required  form  is 
withdrawn,  to  be  fire-polished  and  annealed.  If  too  much  glass  is  cut  off,  the  article  is  too  thick ;  if  too  little,  it  fails 
to  fill  the  mold,  and  the  article  is  spoiled.  Though  this  is  quite  a  simple  operation,  and  though  as  great  skill  as  in 
the  old  method  of  glass-blowing  is  not  required,  considerable  practice  is  still  necessary  to  gather  the  right  amount 
of  metal  and  to  cut  it  off  so  as  not  to  waste  glass,  and  also  to  keep  the  mold  at  the  right  temperature.  If  it  is  too 
hot,  the  glass  will  adhere  to  the  die  and  plunger;  if  too  cold,  the  surface  will  not  be  clear  and  transparent. 

IMPROVEMENTS  IN  THE  PRESSING  PROCESS,  (a) — Since  pressing  was  first  introduced  many  improvements 
have  been  made;  indeed,  the  improvements  in  glass-making  during  the  past  ten  years  in  connection  with  the 
manufacture  of  pressed  glass  have  been  most  marked,  one  very  important  one  having  been  what  is  known  as  fire- 
polishing.  By  this  process  the  outer  film  of  glass  is  roughened  by  contact  with  the  mold,  and  the  film  is  repolished 
by  a  slight  reheating.  Some  of  the  recently  invented  mechanical  devices  for  this  reheating  are  most  ingenious, 
and  have  made  the  production  of  certain  articles  possible  which  it  was  believed  could  not  be  produced  by  pressing. 
One  of  the  chief  difficulties  in  pressing  glass  is  the  production  of  sharp  angles,  which  are  so  easily  obtained  in 
cut  glass.  If  these  are  secured  in  pressing,  they  are  apt  to  lose  their  sharpness  in  fire-polishing  and  reheating. 
Thi.s  defect  has  been  obviated  in  some  degree  by  making  the  angles  longer  in  the  molds,  so  that  when  they  are 
softened  by  the  heat  they  still  stand  enough  in  relief  to  give  marked  and  distinct  outlines.  To  obviate  the  uneven 
surface  of  flat  or  fluted  articles  the  molds  have  been  constructed  so  as  to  make  the  flutes  deepei  in  the  middle,  and 
with  angles  slanting  toward  this  point.  It  will  readily  be  seen  that  a  flute  composed  of  two  angles  tending  to 
the  center  is  not  as  likely  to  show  defects  as  if  it  was  of  a  flat  surface.  Another  important  improvement  in  connection 
with  pressing  glass  is  the  process  of  cooling  the  molds  by  the  use  of  air,  an  invention  which  has  doubled  their 
durability. 

M  OLD-MARKS. — A  common  defect  of  pressed  ware  is  the  marks  left  on  the  glass  at  points  where  the  different 
pieces  of  the  mold  are  joined  together.  However  skillfully  the  molds  may  be  made,  in  course  of  time  the  joints 
will  work  loose  through  the  expansion  and  contraction  of  the  metal,  and  the  glass  will  gradually  be  pressed  in  the 
loose  spaces  of  the  joints,  thereby  imprinting  on  the  surface  of  the  articles  ribs  or  sharp  threads,  marring  the 
beauty  of  the  work.  To  obviate  this  molds  are  made  to  open  at  such  places  and  parts  of  the  design  that  the  marks 
left  can  scarcely  be  seen ;  for  instance,  in  goblets  the  marks  are  left  on  the  edges  of  angles.  The  parts  of  the 
molds  are  also  combined  so  as  to  leave  the  marks  on  the  edge  of  the  scallop  made  by  the  top  of  flutes  in  a  goblet 
or  tumbler.  Tumblers,  however,  are  rarely  made  in  "joint  molds'',  but  in  solid  ones. 

MOLDING  ARTICLES  WITH  LATERAL  DESIGNS. — Various  mechanical  devices  have  been  adopted  that  have 
permitted  of  the  production  of  forms  that  at  first  seemed  beyond  the  skill  or  ability  of  the  glass-presser.  Pieces 
requiring  to  have  designs  pressed  in  the  side,  which  would  prevent  them  from  coming  out  of  a  mold  made  in  one 
piece,  have  been  made  by  having  sliding  lateral  pieces.  These  pieces  are  moved  forward  and  withdrawn  by 
suitable  means,  leaving  them  free  to  come  out  of  the  mold.  Improvements  in  the  same  order  have  also  been 
made  for  molding  handles,  forming  hole's  in  handles  by  means  of  sliding  pieces,  which  are  pushed  through  the 
side  of  the  mold  and  withdrawn  to  take  the  pieces  out.  When  articles  are  so  shaped  oil  the  outside  as  to 
present  a  few  protuberances,  and  it  is  not  thought  advisable  to  open  the  mold,  in  order  to  avoid  mold-marks  the 


a  Many  of  the  following  facts  about  pressing  are  condensed  from  Charles  Co!n£'s  report  on  glass  and  glassware. 


1085 


48  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

melds  are  so  combined  that  the  protuberances  are  made  by  sliding  lateral  pieces,  which,  when  withdrawn,  allow  the 
object  to  be  taken  out.  Letters,  monograms,  and  ornaments  have  been  made  by  introducing  lateral  pieces  in  molds 
containing  the  proper  designs.  These  pieces  are  changeable,  and  the  same  shaped  article  may  be  made  having 
different  lettering,  etc. 

MOLDING  CURVED  HOLLOW  ARTICLES,  LAMPS,  GOBLETS,  AND  TAPER  ARTICLES. — Curved  tubes  and  glass 
slippers  are  made  by  giving  the  plunger  a  descending  curvilinear  instead  of  a  vertical  motion,  and  lamps,  goblets, 
and  similar  articles  are  frequently  made  by  first  pressing  the  foot,  then  blowing  the  head  or  body  upon  it,  placing 
the  foot  in  suitable  bearings  to  connect  the  two  together.  The  upper  part  may  be  either  blown  in  a  mold  or 
previously  shaped  with  tools  and  made  to  adhere  while  the  glass  is  hot.  Bowls  are  also  made  by  first  pressing,  then 
inverting  them,  and  then  pressing  the  foot  and  stem  upon  them.  Pieces  which  are  wider  at  the  top  than  at  the  bottom, 
as  a  decanter,  cannot  be  pressed  in  the  usual  way,  since  the  plunger  is  always  a  cone,  which  must  be  pushed  into 
the  mold  and  withdrawn.  These  pieces  are  pressed  bottom  up,  and  lips  or  projections  sufficient  to  form  the  bottom 
are  formed  in  the  mold.  The  piece,  after  being  pressed,  is  withdrawn  from  the  mold,  the  bottom  is  heated,  and 
with  a  tool  the  lips  are  brought  together  to  close  it  up. 

MOLDING  MOUTHS,  NECKS,  ETC. — In  shaping  tools  for  the  mouths  of  bottles,  jars,  etc.,  there  are  several 
combinations  to  produce  effects  not  to  be  obtained  by  hand.  The  ordinary  neck-shaped  tool  for  making  bottle  necks 
is  made  of  a  central  pivoted  piece  to  form  the  inside  of  the  neck  and  two  stationary  pieces  to  form  the  outside. 
Sometimes  the  necks  of  certain  jars  require  to  have  a  screw  shape  molded  in  the  inside,  and  to  accomplish  this  the 
central  piece  of  the  shaping  tool  is  made  screw-like,  the  two  outside  rubbing  pieces  of  the  desired  shape,  according  to 
the  style  of  jar.  It  is  sometimes  desired  to  form  cavities  or  projections  in  or  on  the  necks  of  jars,  and  this  is  usually 
done  by  having  laterally-moving  pieces  attached  to  the  inside  former  or  the  outside  jaws,  as  the  case  may  be.  These 
sliding  pieces  are  operated  when  the  tool  is  at  rest  after  shaping  the  neck.  In  the  same  order  of  tools  may  be 
classed  the  formers  for  making  pouring-lips  on  the  necks  of  cruets.  These  tools  have  suitably  shaped  jaws,  which 
are  pressed  against  the  neck  to  give  it  the  proper  slant.  It  is  also  desirable  sometimes  to  make  holes  in  the  side 
of  a  jar  or  jar-cover.  This  is  done  by  having  metallic  pegs  placed  on  the  outside  jaws,  which  are  pushed  iu 
through  the  metal  to  pierce  it.  The  middle  piece  fitting  the  inside  of  the  bottle-neck  in  some  of  the  forming  tools 
is  so  made  that  at  the  time  of  entering  it  is  very  narrow,  but  is  gradually  widened  by  forcing  apart  the  two  sections 
of  which  it  is  made.  Molasses-cans  are  now  made  with  a  glass  pouring-lip  at  top  and  slanting  channel  to  run  the 
dripped  molasses  into  the  can  again,  the  whole  being  closed  by  a  metallic  cover.  To  form  the  glass  lip  the  piece 
is  molded  upside  down,  with  bottom  flaps  to  close  up  the  can.  In  this  position  the  can  forms  a  cone,  and  the  plunger 
can  therefore  be  pushed  in  and  withdrawn  with  facility.  The  bottom  of  the  mold  is  made  of  a  suitable  shape,  and 
the  plunger  is  so  combined  with  the  bottom  piece  that  the  opening  in  the  mouth  of  the  can  is  made  at  the  same 
time  as  the  body  is  pressed,  the  film  of  metal  at  the  mouth  being  so  thiu  as  to  be  readily  removed  by  a  sharp  blow. 
By  this  device  clock  frames,  decanters,  pipes  open  at  both  ends,  etc.,  can  be  made. 

HANDLES. — Handles  can  be  pressed  in  one  mold,  and  the  body  of  the  object  subsequently  blown  upon  them  in 
another  mold,  the  operation  cementing  the  parts  together  while  the  metal  is  hot.  Small  hand-lamps  have  been 
blown  in  ordinary  iron  molds,  and  the  handle  for  each  formed  by  allowing  hot  plastic  glass  to  descend  in  a  channel 
at  the  side  until  the  two  ends  meet  the  bowl  of  the  lamp  and  become  cemented  to  it  while  hot. 

LAMP  BODIES  WITH  FEET  AND  SCREW  COUPLING. — Lamps  are  sometimes  made  with  the  foot  and  bowl  fastened 
together  by  means  of  a  metallic  casing  screwed  over  the  two  parts.  In  order  to  obtain  the  screw-pegs  at  the  bottom 
of  the  lamp  bowl  and  the  top  of  the  foot  molds  have  been  devised  so  as  to  give  to  the  bottom  piece  a  rotary  motion, 
to  withdraw  it  from  the  formed  peg.  This  style  of  forming  screws  is  to  avoid  the  mold-marks  which  are  made  when 
the  mold  opens. 

LAMPS  WITH  METALLIC  PEGS  OR  COLLARS. — Lamps  are  blown  with  metallic  pegs  or  collars  imbedded  in  the 
glass.  The  pegs  are  previously  heated,  set  in  recesses  in  the  molds,  and  the  lamp  blown  over  it. 

INSULATORS. — In  telegraph  insulators,  however,  requiring  a  hollow  screw,  a  rotating  retreating  bottom 
piece  becomes  a  necessity,  as  the  plunger  cannot  be  pushed  and  withdrawn,  owing  to  the  projecting  screw-threads. 

BALLS. — Round  glass  balls,  used  for  castors  or  for  shooting  at,  are  now  made  by  using  molds  containing  several 
sections,  which  leave  only  a  small  connection  of  glass  between  the  balls.  A  rod  of  hot  glass  is  prepared,  then 
rolled  lengthwise  'over  the  different  sections  of  the  mold,  and  is  gradually  shaped  into  several  balls,  slightly 
attached  together  by  thiu  connections.  These  balls  are  easily  severed,  and  are  then  perfectly  round. 

MOVABLE-BOTTOM  MOLDS. — Molds  have  been  made  with  movable  bottoms,  to  allow  the  surplus  glass,  when 
in  excess,  to  force  the  latter  down,  thereby  increasing  the  thickness  of  the  bottom  piece.  In  order  to  equalize  the 
distribution  of  heat  in  iron  molds,  they  have  been  so  made  that  by  varying  the  thickness  of  the  different  parts 
the  cooling  and  heating  become  equalized. 

BATTERY  JARS. — To  manufacture  battery  jars  having  tubular  formations  running  from  top  to  bottom  a  ring- 
plate  is  used  having  two  mandrels  attached  to  it  and  falling  into  suitable  recesses  in  the  bottom  of  the  mold.  This 
ring-plate  being  adjusted  in  the  mold,  the  plunger  is  made  to  come  down,  and  by  its  pressure  the  hot  glass  is  made 
to  run  round  the  mandrels  while  the  jar  itself  is  being  formed.  The  plunger  having  been  withdrawn,  the  mandrel 
plate  is  pulled  out,  and  the  tubular  cavities  now  appear  properly  formed. 
108(i 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  49 

MOLDS  FOR  FLAKING  ARTICLES. — Articles  wider  at  the  bottom  than  at  the  top  on  the  outside  maybe  pressed  by 
introducing  between  the  outer  shell  of  the  mold  and  the  plunger  a  cylinder  tapering  wider  from  top  to  bottom ;  but  the 
inside  of  the  article  must,  of  course,  be  made  tapering  downward  toward  the  center,  so  that  the  plunger  may  be 
withdrawn.  It  will  be  understood  that  the  plunger  having  been  withdrawn,  the  article  being  wider  at  the  bottom 
than  at  the  top,  it  cannot  yet  be  taken  out  of  the  mold.  To  do  this  the  intermediate  cylinder  is  withdrawn,  and  the 
article  is  now  left  free  to  come  out. 

MOLDING  ARTICLES  WITH  BULGING  BODIES. — A  combination  mold  has  been  made  to  press  molasses-cans 
and  such  articles  which  are  wider  in  the  middle  than  at  both  ends,  and  it  is  plain  to  be  seen  that  to  make  such  cans 
no  plunger  can  be  used  to  press  the  article  all  the  way  down,  on  account  of  the  belly  of  the  can.  To  obviate  this 
inconvenience  molds  have  been  made  of  several  pieces,  as  follows :  The  upper  part,  consisting  of  the  neck  and 
handle,  is  pressed  in  a  mold  having  a  movable  bottom  piece,  which  is  run  up  past  the  belly  of  the  can,  but  only 
to  a  proper  distance,  so  that  the  bottom  may  be  left  thick  enough  to  furnish  sufficient  material  to  form  the  body. 
The  plunger  is  provided  with  air-passages,  to  admit  of  the  bodies  being  blown,  and  the  lower  part  of  the  mold, 
through  whi'.-h  the  bottom  piece  ascends,  is  made  of  the  proper  shape  to  form  the  body  and  the  bottom.  The  operation 
is  as  follows :  The  mold  bottom  piece  is  run  up  to  its  proper  height,  glass  is  introduced  in  the  mold,  the  plunger  is 
brought  down,  thereby  forming  the  neck  and  the  handle  of  the  can  and  a  thick  glass  bottom.  The  mold  bottom 
piece  is  now  lowered,  and  the  thick  glass  bottom  is  dilated  and  made  to  fit  the  lower  mold  by  the  pressure  of  the 
air  sent  through  the  plunger,  thereby  finishing  the  piece. 

MOLDING  ARTICLES  WITH  OPENINGS. — It  is  sometimes  desirable  to  make  certain  articles  with  openings,  such 
a.s  on  the  top  of  a  lamp  head  to  leave  an  opeuing  for  filling  the  lamp.  These  holes  or  openings  are  produced  as 
follows :  After  the  lamp  head  has  been  properly  shaped,  a  small  quantity  of  hot  glass  is  dropped  upon  the  lamp 
top.  which  has  been  previously  reheated.  The  hot  glass  and  top  of  the  lamp  being  now  sufficiently  plastic,  a  tool 
somewhat  in  the  style  of  those  for  forming  bottle  neck*  is  used.  This  tool  consists  of  an  annular  piece,  which  is 
brought  over  the  hot  lump  of  glass  and  shapes  the  outside.  While  this  annular  piece  is  in  contact  a  central  pin 
is  [lushed  forward  and  pierces  the  glass,  thus  producing  the  opening.  Should  it  be  required  to  cement  a  cap  over 
tliu  opening,  the  shaping  tool  is  provided  with  two  levers,  having  ends  properly  shaped  for  the  purpose.  These 
ends  are  pressed  on  the  outside  of  the  tube  and  form  recesses. 

SPRING  SNAPS  FOR  FIRE  POLISHING. — Many  articles,  after  being  molded,  pressed,  or  blown,  require  to  be  held 
by  the  foot  for  fire-polishing  or  for  giving  them  a  final  shape.  It  has  been  customary,  heretofore,  to  fix  the  foot  to  a 
piece  of  hot  glass  on  the  end  of  au  iron  rod,  and  then  to  put  on  the  finishing.  To  detach  the  pieces  it  is  necessary  to 
part  the  two  by  giving  a  sharp  blow  on  the  iron  rod.  The  foot  frequently  retains  pieces  of  broken  glass,  which 
must  be  removed  by  grinding,  and  to  avoid  this  spring  '•  snaps"  are  used.  These  consist  of  a  couple  of  jaws  mounted 
on  springs,  so  that  they  can  open  and  shut.  These  jaws  are  fastened  at  the  end  of  an  iron  rod  like  a  blow-pipe.  If 
a  goblet  is  to  be  finished  the  process  is  as  follows:  The  jaws  are  made  to  open,  and,  by  the  action  of  the  springs, 
they  immediately  close  upon  the  foot  and  hold  the  goblet  ready  to  be  finished.  Sometimes  these  jaws  are  so 
su-ranged  that  they  can  be  set  forward  and  back  and  fastened  by  screws. 

COOLING  HEATED  MOLDS  BY  AIR  BLAST. — When  pressing  glass  continuously  for  a  long  time  the  molds  often 
l»ecome  too  highly  heated,  and  in  this  state  glass  is  very  apt  to  stick  to  them;  but  this  inconvenience  is  now  done 
si  way  with  by  a  system  of  blowing  air  into  the  molds.  By  means  of  a  revolving  fan  or  other  device  and  tin  pipes 
arranged  around  the  furnace  a  continuous  stream  of  air  is  furnished.  India  rubber  pipes  are  attached  to  the  tin 
pipes  at  suitable  places,  and  by  this  means,  after  each  pressing,  or  as  often  as  necessary,  a  stream  of  air  is  sent 
inside  of  the  mold,  thereby  cooling  it  The  air  circulating  in  the  pipes  may  also  be  used  for  the  ventilation  and 
cooling  of  the  glass  house. 

APPLICATION  OF  STEAM  TO  GLASS-PRESSING. — Attempts  have  been  made  of  late  to  use  presses  for  pressing 
glass  by  steam  or  compressed  air.  One  of  these  presses  has  a  set  of  molds  carried  on  a  revolving  bed,  and  is 
operated  by  a  presser  like  a  hand-pres.s.  The  power,  however,  is  applied  to  the  presser  by  means  of  an  auxiliary 
steam-engine,  which  is  continually  at  work.  Whenever  au  article  is  to  be  pressed,  by  suitable  leverage  the  presser 
is  forced  down,  then  released,  the  bed-plate  revolves  far  enough  to  bring  another  mold  under  the  presser,  and  the 
operation  is  repeated  as  often  as  desired.  Mechanism  is  attached  and  operated  also  by  steam,  so  as  to  push  the 
pieces  out  of  the  mold  after  they  are  pressed.  These  are  the  principal  features  of  the  invention. 

APPLICATION  OF  CO^IPRESSED  AIR. — In  the  other  press  steam  is  replaced  by  compressed  air  contained  in  a 
reservoir,  which  may  be  filled  by  means  of  an  air  compressing  engine.  The  bed-plate  carrying  the  molds  has  a 
rectilinear  motion.  When  an  article  is  to  be  pressed,  the  mold  is  brought  under  the  presser,  and  by  means  of  suitable 
valves  and  pipes  air  is  sent  to  a  cylinder  piston  carrying-  the  plunger,  the  pressure  of  the  air  forcing  the  presser 
down  into  the  mold  and  reversing  the  valves,  and  the  piston  and  presser  flying  back.  A  new  mold  is  now  under 
the  plunger.  This  operation  may  be  repeated  as  often  as  desired  by  simply  opening  and  closing  the  air-valves.  In 
this  press,  as  in  the  other,  the  pieces  are  forced  out  of  the  molds  by  rising  plugs  or  bottoms.  The  different  motions 
are  entirely  automatic,  with  the  exception  of  operating  the  air- valves.  Though  steam  and  air  have  been  used,  the 
success  reached  has  not  been  great. 


50  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

INCLOSED  AIR-BUBBLES. — In  order  to  form  the  bubbles  which  are  often  seen  inside  of  solid  pieces  of  glass 
these  have  been  pressed  with  cavities  on  the  outside,  and,  after  being  reheated,  the  cavities  are  closed  by  pressing 
the  outside  down  with  suitable  tools,  thus  inclosing  the  air. 

BLOWING  is  used  in  the  production  of  cylinder  or  sheet  glass,  of  table  and  similar  ware,  with  or  without  the 
use  of  molds  and  of  bottles. 

WINDOW-GLASS. — In  the  production  of  window-glass  a  square  or  an  oblong  furnace  is  used.  Badiating  from  the 
work-holes,  and  so  arranged  as  to  be  on  the  edge  of  a  pit  some  7  to  10  feet  deep,  are  long  stages,  separated  by  spaces 
sufficiently  wide  to  allow  the  workman  to  swing  about  his  long  tube  to  form  his  elongated  cylinder.  When  the 
glass  is  ready  for  blowing  the  workmen  take  their  stations,  each  having  his  own  pot  and  stage,  and  also  assistants, 
and  commence  gathering  the  glass,  which  is  done  by  dipping  the  end  or  nose  of  the  pipe  or  hollow  rod  of  iron  into 
the  pot  of  molten  glass,  twirling  it  around  to  equalize  the  thickness  of  the  gathering,  and  collecting  a  lump  of 
glass  at  the  end.  After  gathering  the  amount  of  metal  required,  generally  about  20  pounds,  the  workman  rolls 
the  gathered  glass  on  a  block  of  wood  so  hollowed  out  as  to  allow  the  lump  when  placed  upon  it  to  be  extended  by 
the  blower  to  the  diameter  ultimately  required.  Here  it  is  shaped  into  a  solid  cylindrical  mass,  water  in  the 
mean  time  being  applied  to  the  block  to  keep  it  from  burning  and  to  give  brilliancy  to  the  surface  of  the  glass. 
When  the  mass  of  metal  is  sufficiently  formed  and  cooled,  it  now  being  of  a  pear  shape,  the  blower  raises  the  pipe 
to  his  mouth  at  an  angle  of  about  75°,  blowing  into  the  glass  and  turning  it  in  the  wood  block  until  the  requisite 
diameter  is  reached.  It  now  has  the  appearance  of  a  hollow  flattened  globe.  This  mass  is  then  reheated,  and 
when  it  is  sufficiently  softened  the  workman  begins  swinging  it  over  his  head,  reheating  and  swinging  in  the  pit 
until  it  has  reached  the  desired  length,  which  is  about  45  inches.  This  is  the  most  difficult  part  of  the  operation, 
uniformity  of  substance  and  diameter  being  chiefly  the  result  of  the  skill  of  the  workman,  who,  when  he  finds  the 
metal  running  out  too  freely,  holds  the  cylinder  vertically  above  his  head,  still  keeping  it  filled  with  air,  and  then 
by  dropping  elongates  and  thins  it.  The  cylinder  is  now,  say,  45  inches  long  by  12  inches  in  diameter,  one  end 
being  closed  and  the  other  having  the  pipe  attached  to  it.  The  thinner  cylinders  are  opened  by  the  workman 
blowing  into  the  pipe  and  then  stopping  it  with  his  finger,  and  at  the  same  time  applying  the  lower  end  to  the 
fire,  when  the  air  inside  is  expanded  and  the  point  of  the  cylinder  bursts  open,  this  being  the.  hottest  and  most 
yielding  part.  The  aperture  thus  made  is  widened  out  to  the  diameter  of  the  cylinder  by  subsequently  turning  the 
cylinder  to  and  fro  with  the  opening  downward.  The  thicker  cylinders  are  sometimes  opened  by  attaching  a  lump 
of  hot  glass  to  the  end,  which  thus  becomes  the  hottest  and  weakest  part.  The  blower  forces  it  open,  as  in  the 
case  of  thin  glass.  The  opening  is  enlarged  by  cutting  it  round  with  scissors.-  This  method  is  used  in  preference 
to  opening  it  in  the  furnaces,  as  it  occasions  less  waste.  The  other  end,  which  is  attached  to  the  pipe,  is  now 
cut  off  by  the  workman,  who,  having  gathered  a  small  quantity  of  metal  on  his  poutil,  draws  it  out  into  a  thread 
and  wraps  it  around  the  pipe  end  of  the  cylinder,  letting  it  remain  for  an  instant,  withdrawing  it  suddenly,  and 
immediately  applying  a  cold  iron  to  the  heated  part,  when  it  cracks  where  the  hot  string  of  glass  had  been  placed. 
The  weight  of  the  cylinder,  as  finished,  is  about  two-thirds  that  of  the  lump  of  glass  which  the  gatherer  collected. 
The  finished  cylinder  is  now  split  open  either  by  a  red-hot  iron  or  by  diamond,  which,  attached  to  a  long  handle 
and  guided  by  a  wooden  rule,  is  drawn  along  the  inside  of  the  cylinder,  the  edge  of  the  glass  being  rubbed  with 
a  cold  iron,  as  in  the  case  of  disengaging  the  pipe. 

FLATTENING. — The  cylinder  is  now  ready  for  the  flattening  oven,  which  is  generally  a  circular  oven  with  a 
revolving  bottom,  composed  of  a  number  of  stones'as  smooth  as  possible.  The  cylinder  is  laid  in  the  oven  with 
the  split  side  uppermost,  and  is  soon  opened  by  the  flame  passing  over  it,  and  falls  back  in  a  wavy  sheet.  The 
flattener  now  applies  another  instrument,  called  the  polissoir,  which  is  a  rod  of  iron  furnished  at  the  end  with  a 
block  of  wood,  and  rubs  down  the  waviness  into  a  flat  surface,  often  using  considerable  force.  The  flattening-stoue 
is  now  moved  to  the  coolest  portion  of  the  furnace,  the  sheet  is  delivered  by  means  of  the  flattening  fork  to  the 
cooling-stoue,  and  from  this,  when  sufficiently  rigid,  it  is  lifted  and  is  piled  on  its  edge  and  annealed  in  an  annealing 
kiln  or  laid  flatwise  on  iron  carriages,  which  are  conveyed  through  a  long  annealing  chamber,  called  a  leer.  When 
annealed  they  are  examined,  cut  into  a  size  that  the  defect  will  permit,  and  packed. 

DEFECTS  OF  WINDOW-GLASS. — Mr.  Chance  thus  describes  the  many  vicissitudes  through  which  window-glass 
passes  in  the  processes  of  manufacture: 

The  manner  in  which  a  sheet  spared  by  ene  process  is  disfigured  by  another  is  sometimes  curiously  provoking.  Standing  before 
the  table  of  the  "  assorter",  your  eye  lights  upon  a  piece  -which,  blown  under  an  evil  star,  has  imbibed  in  the  glass  house  every  possible 
defect.  The  founder,  skimmer,  gatherer,  and  blower  have  all  stamped  their  brand  upon  it.  It  is  seedy — the  vesicles,  which  were  in  the  crown 
tables  rounded  by  the  rotary  motion  of  the  piece,  here  elongated  by  the  extension  of  the  cylinder ;  it  is  stony,  disfigured  with  stony  droppings 
fromthe  furnace;  stringy,  thin  threads  of  glass  meandering  over  its  surface;  "ambitty,"  covered  with  stony  speckles,  symptoms  of  incipient 
devitrification;  conspicuous  with  gatherers' blisters  and  blisters  from  the  pipe;  badly  gathered;  badly  blown — thin  here,  thick  there, 
and  grooved  with  a  row  of  scratches ;  and  on  this  abortion  the  flattener  chances  to  have  exerted  his  most  exquisite  skill ;  it  has  passed 
through  his  hands  unscathed,  flat  as  a  polished  mirror,  yet,  from  its  previous  defects,  entirely  worthless.  Next  comes  before  you  a  piece 
whose  beginning  was  miraculous— no  seeds,  no  blisters ;  it  prospered  under  the  hands  of  the  gatherer  and  blower,  and  left  the  glass  house 
a  perfect  cylinder.  But  the  croppie  of  the  flattener  marked  it ;  the  fire  scalded  it ;  dust  fell  upon  the  lagre  and  dirtied  it ;  scraps  from 
the  edges  of  the  preceding  cylinder  staid  upon  the  lagre  and  stuck  to  it ;  the  stone  scratched  it ;  and  the  heat  of  the  annealing  chamber 
bent  it.  Such  are  the  difficulties  to  which  every  cylinder  is  subject — those  of  the  glass  house  and  those  of  the  flattening  kiln.  Not 
all,  however,  are  such  as  these ;  there  are  good  as  well  as  bad.  but  the  good  arc  generally  in  the  minority. 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  51 

SIZE  OF  WINDOW-GLASS. — When  the  manufacture  of  glass  was  new  in  England  the  size  usually  blown  was  36 
by  20  inches.  This  is  now  somewhat  increased,  and  cylinders  85  by  49  inches  have  been  blown,  and  in  some  cases 
blown  cylinders  158  inches  long  by  26  inches  in  circumference  and  70  inches  long  by  60  inches  in  circumference 
have  been  made,  but  such  large  sizes,  and  indeed  any  over  60  by  40  inches,  are  exceedingly  difficult  to  make.  The 
thickness  is  computed  by  the  number  of  ounces  to  the  square  foot.  The  average  size  of  15-  and  21-ounce  glass  is 
48  inches  by  34  or  36  inches. 

BLOWN  AND  PATENT  PLATE. — In  various  parts  of  England  thick  blown  glass  is  often  ground  and  polished 
in  a  manner  somewhat  similar  to  the  cast  plate  of  commerce,  and  is  known  as  blown  and  patent  plate.  The 
cheap  production  of  this  glass  was  made  possible  by  the  remarkable  invention  of  Mr.  James  Chance,  who 
conceived  the  ingenious  idea  of  laying  every  sheet  of  glass  intended  to  be  ground  and  polished  upon  a  flat  surface 
covered  with  damp  pieces  of  soft  leather.  Two  sheets  thus  placed  are  turned  one  against  the  other  in  a  horizontal 
position,  sand  and  water  being  constantly  supplied  between  them  by  means  of  a  most  ingenious  machine.  The  two 
surfaces  are  rapidly  rubbed  one  against  the  other  in  all  directions  and  ground  and  afterward  polished. 

BLOWING  FLINT  WARE. — All  glass  when  in  the  plastic  condition  can  be  blown  with  greater  or  less  facility. 
This  statement  applies  not  only  to  the  lead  flint  of  England,  but  to  the  lime  and  half  crystal  of  other  countries. 
In  blowing  and  working  the  various  glasses  of  these  countries  into  the  many  forms  of  blown  wares  the  process  is 
essentially  the  same.  The  metal  is  gathered  in  a  manner  similar  to  that  described  under  window-glass.  The 
metal,  so  gathered,  is  rolled  on  the  marver  (a  corruption  of  the  French  word  mar&re,  marble  being  formerly  employed), 
which  is  a  slab  of  cast-iron  with  a  polished  surface.  Upon  this  slab  the  lump  of  glass  is  rolled  to  give  it  a  regular 
exterior,  so  that  the  blowing  may  give  a  uniform  thickness  of  the  metal.  This  lump  of  glass  is  then  expanded  by 
blowing  and  lengthened  by  swinging.  A  pontil,  puutee,  or  polity,  a  solid  iron  rod,  tapering  and  varying  greatly  in 
length  and  strength,  is  attached  to  the  blown  globe  of  glass,  when  the  blowing  rod  is  removed  by  wetting  the  glass 
near  where  the  tube  enters.  The  workman  now  takes  the  pontil  from  bis  assistant  and  lays  it  on  the  chair, 
which  is  a  flat  seat  of  timber  about  10  inches  wide,  each  end  being  fixed  to  a  frame  connected  with  four  legs  and  two 
arms,  the  latter  being  inclined.  This  pontil  is  rolled  backward  and  forward  by  the  workman  with  his  left  hand,  thus 
forming  a  throwiug-wheel  of  great  delicacy,  while  with  his  right  he  molds  the  glass  into  the  various  shapes  required 
by  means  of  a  very  few  simple  tools.  By  one  of  these,  called  pucellas,  the  blades  of  which  are  attached  by  an  elastic 
bow,  like  a  pair  of  sugar-tongs,  the  dimensions  of  the  vessel  can  be  enlarged  or  contracted  at  pleasure.  Any 
surplus  matter  is  cut  away  by  a  pair  of  scissors.  For  smoothing  the  sides  of  the  vessel  a  piece  of  wood  is  used, 
and  for  flattening  the  bottom  of  tumblers  or  similar  purposes  the  battledore,  a  flat  square  of  polished  iron  with  a 
wooden  handle,  is  used.  In  these  operations  the  article  operated  upon  may  be  reheated  several  times.  After 
it  is  finished  it  is  detached  from  the  poutil  by  a  sharp  blow  and  carried  on  a  pronged  stick  to  the  annealing 
oven  or  leer,  which  is  a  low  arched  furnace,  generally  of  considerable  length.  In  this  oven  small  tracks  are  laid,  on 
which  wagons  mounted  on  four  wheels  are  placed,  the  articles  to  be  annealed  being  filled  into  such  wagons.  These 
are  slowly  pushed  through  the  ovens,  and  are  removed  at  the  opposite  end. 

FLINT-GLASS  CUTTING,  ENGRAVING,  AND  ETCHING. — The  sparkle  and  brilb'ancy  of  flint-glass  are  developed 
by  the  process  of  grinding  and  polishing,  technically  called  glass-cutting.  Motion  is  communicated  to  the  glass- 
cutter's  mill,  which  is  of  wrought-  or  cast-iron,  by  a  pulley  and  band.  Over  it  is  suspended  a  wooden  trough  or 
cistern,  containing  a  mixture  of  sand  and  water,  which,  for  the  operation  of  grinding,  is  fed  on  the  wheel  as  required. 
Smoothing  is  done  on  a  wheel  of  fine  sandstone,  to  which  water  alone  is  applied,  and  for  polishing  a  wooden  wheel, 
supplied  with  emery,  and  finally  with  putty  powder  (oxide  of  tin),  is  employed.  The  trough  under  the  wheel 
receives  the  detritus  of  the  grinding  and  other  operations.  The  articles  are  held  in  the  hand,  and  are  applied  to 
the  mill  while  rotating.  The  punty  marks  on  tumblers,  wine-glasses,  and  the  like  are  ground  oft'  by  boys  holding 
them  on  small  stone-mills.  Ground  or  obscured  glass  is  made  by  grinding  the  surface  on  a  wheel  with  sand  and 
water.  In  some  works  in  this  country  the  article  is  placed  on  a  lathe,  and  while  it  is  revolving  sand  and  water 
is  applied  by  a  wire  brush.  Iron  tools,  fixed  on  a  lathe  and  moistened  with  sand  and  water,  are  used  to  rough 
out  the  stoppers  and  necks  of  bottles,  which  are  completed  by  hand  polishing  with  emery  and  water.  Engraving 
is  the  production  of  ornamental  surfaces  by  a  fine  kind  of  grinding,  mostly  done  with  copper  disks  revolving  in  a 
lathe.  Etching  is  variously  done  by  submitting  the  portions  to  be  etched  or  bitten  to  the  influence  of  hydrofluoric 
acid,  the  remainder  of  the  glass  being  stopped  off  or  protected  by  a  coating  of  wax  or  some  pitchy  compound,  (a) 

BLOWING  IN  MOLDS. — In  blowing  bottles  or  other  articles  the  same  method  is  pursued  in  gathering  the  glass 
as  is  described  above.  When  sufficient  glass  has  been  gathered  by  the  assistant,  it  is  handed  to  the  blower,  who 
rolls  it  upon  a  marver,  blowing  into  the  metal  and  forming  the  rough  outline  of  the  article.  This  is  then  put  into 
a  press  or  cast  iron  mold,  which  is  divided  into  two  or  more  pieces,  and  which  the  workman  operates  by  his  foot, 
opening  or  shutting  at  pleasure.  As  the  glass  is  dropped  into  this  mold,  and  the  mold  is  shut,  the  workman 
blows  into  the  glass  to  cause  it  to  fill  all  parts.  The  glass  immediately  solidifies,  the  blowing-iron  is  broken  off, 
and  the  article  carried  to  the  annealing  furnace,  the  mouth,  if  it  is  a  bottle,  having  previously  been  fashioned. 

a  See  Encyclopaedia  Britannica. 
09   M  M  1083 


52  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

The  great  objection  to  molds  is  the  injurious  effect  on  the  surface  of  the  glass.  This  objection  has  been  overcome 
by  tne  use  of  wooden  or  carbon  molds  fitted  in  metal  frames,  the  use  of  which  is  quite  common  in  France  and 
Belgium. 

FASHIONING  ART-GLASS. — To  describe  the  various  methods  employed  for  manipulating  art-glass,  and  to 
enter  further  into  details  regardiug  methods  of  fashioning  the  higher  grades  of  glass  for  table  use,  hardly  fall 
within  the  scope  of  this  report.  Those  interested  in  these  matters,  however,  are  referred  to  various  works  on  this 
subject,  especially  that  of  Mr.  Apsley  Pellatt  on  the  Curiosities  of  Glaus  HaJcing,  Mr.  Alexander  Nesbitt's  Hand-book 
on  Glass,  and  the  recent  publication,  Glass  in  the  Old  World,  by  M.  A.  Wallace-Duulop. 

THE  PORTLAND  VASE. — Though  I  have  not  deemed  it  advisable  to  enter  into  any  extended  description  of  the 
different  processes  employed  in  the  manufacture  of  what  I  have  termed  art-glass,  this  account  would  be  incomplete 
without  some  reference  to  the  Portland  vase.  This  vase  was  found  in  a  marble  sarcophagus  of  a  sepulchral 
chamber  under  the  Monte  del  Grano,  about  3  miles  from  Rome,  on  the  road  to  Laureutium.  The  inscriptions  on 
the  sarcophagus  showed  it  to  have  been  dedicated  to  the  memory  of  the  Emperor  Alexander  Severus,  killed  A.  D. 
325,  and  his  mother,  Julia  Mammoea.  The  vase  measures  10  inches  in  height  by  7  in  width,  and  is  ornamented 
with  white  opaque  figures  in  bas-relief  upon  a  dark-blue  transparent  ground.  This  blue  ground  was  originally 
covered  with  white  enamel,  out  of  which  the  figures  have  been  sculptured  in  the  style  of  a  cameo  with  astonishing 
skill  and  labor.  For  a  long  time  this  vase  was  supposed  to  be  of  stone,  but  now  there  is  no  doubt  that  it  is  of 
glass,  and  is  supposed  to  date  about  two  centuries  before  Christ. 

Immediately  after  its  discovery  this  vase  was  placed  in  the  library  of  the  Barberini  family,  who  sold  it  to  Sii 
William  Hamilton,  by  whom  it  was  brought  to  England  and  disposed  of  to  the  Duchess  of  Portland,  from  whom 
it  received  the  name  by  which  it  is  now  known  (the  Portland  vase),  having  previously  been  called  the  Barberini. 
At  the  sale  of  the  museum  of  the  Duchess,  in  1786,  the  vase  was  purchased  for  £1,029  by  her  son,  who  permitted 
Wedgwood  to  copy  it.  Fifty  copies  were  made  in  jasper  ware,  which  were  sold  at  50  guineas  apiece,  but  the 
sum  received  did  not  paj»for  the  reproduction.  The  vase  is  now  in  the  British  museum,  where  it  is  carefully 
guarded,  (a) 

It  was  for  a  long  time  believed  that  modern  skill  was  inadequate  to  the  reproduction  of  this  vase,  or  indeed 
to  the  production  of  work  similar  in  character;  but  the  intelligence  and  remarkable  artistic  skill  of  Mr.  John 
Northwood,  of  Wordsley,  near  Stourbridge,  England,  has  not  only  succeeded  in  reproducing  this  vase,  but  in 
producing  similar  vases  fully  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  the  Portland.  The  reproduction  of  the  Portland  vase  by 
Mr.  Northwood  was  undertaken  with  the  assistance  of  Mr.  Philip  Pargeter,  who  manufactured  the  vase  used,  and 
after  a  large  number  of  trials  succeeded  in  imitating  the  full  rich  blue  of  the  original.  He  coated  the  copy  a 
sufficient  thickness  with  a  layer  of  white,  soft,  opal  glass,  and  succeeded  in  welding  them  together  with  the  utmost 
thoroughness.  The  vase  was  now  ready  for  Mr.  Northwood  to  operate  upon.  His  mode  of  proceeding  was  to  cut 
away  the  opal  by  hand  with  chisels  and  gravers  and  carve  upon  it  the  entire  design  of  the  original  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  finest  cameo  engraving.  For  the  entire  ground  of  the  design  the  opal  has  been  literally  chiseled 
away  and  the  surface  of  the  blue  glass  polished.  The  figures,  trees,  etc.,  composing  the  design  are  left  in  relief 
in  the  opal,  and  are  carved  with  consummate  skill  and  unapproachable  delicacy.  Mr.  Northwood  devoted  three 
entire  years  to  the  work.  In  addition  to  the  skill  required  on  the  artistic  part  of  the  work  the  artist  met  with 
unexpected  difficulties  in  contending  with  a  flaw  in  the  metal.  The  character  of  the  work  was  such,  also,  that  the 
ordinary  glass-engravers'  tools  would  not  answer,  and  new  ones  had  to  be  invented.  The  result  has  been,  however, 
that  again  it  has  been  shown  that  modern  art,  in  many  respects,  is  equal  to  ancient.  This  copy  is  valued  by  Mr. 
Pargeter  at  £1,000. 

Since  reproducing  the  Portland  vase,  which  was  finished  in  1877,  Mr.  Jforthwood  has  produced  others  of  a 
similar  character  that  are  regarded  by  some  critics  as  even  superior  to  that  work.  At  the  Paris  exposition  of  1878 
a  vase  was  shown  in  the  exhibit  of  Thomas  Webb  &  Sons,  representing  the  triumph  of  Galatea  and  Aurora.  This 
vase  at  the  time  was  unfinished,  but  its  value  was  estimated  at  $15,000.  Mr.  North  wood  has  also  produced  a  vase 
called  the  Milton  vase,  which  in  beauty  of  conception  and  in  exquisite  and  delicate  execution  is  believed  to  surpass 
the  Portland  vase. 

TEMPERED,  HARDENED,  OR  TOUGHENED  GLASS. — In  1875  M.  Alfred  de  la  Bastie,  a  French  gentleman, 
announced  that  as  the  result  of  a  series  of  experiments  he  had  discovered  a  method  of  so  tempering  or  hardening 
glass  that  the  strength  of  the  material  would  be  greatly  increased.  His  experiments  were  based  upon  the 
assumption  that  the  fragility  of  glass  is  due  to  the  weakness  of  the  cohesion  of  its  molecules,  and  that  if  the 
molecules  could  be  forced  closer  together,  thus  rendering  the  mass  more  compact,  the  strength  of  the  material 
would  be  increased.  In  his  first  experiments  he  endeavored  to  produce  this  result  by  mechanical  compression 
while  tue  glass  was  in  a  fluid  or  viscid  state.  Being  unsuccessful  in  this,  he  was  led  to  make  use  of  a  modification 
of  the  method  by  which  the  well-known  Prince  Eupert's  drops  have  so  long  been  produced.  In  the  manufacture  of 
these  drops- a  piece  of  very  fluid  glass  is  dropped  into  water,  assuming,  as  it  falls,  the  shape  of  a  tear  or  drop.  The 

outside  of  the  glass  cools  at  once,  the  inside  remaining  partly  fluid  for  some  time,  but  ultimately  the  mass  becomes 

. _ 

a  After  being  placed  in  the  British  museum  it  was  left  uncovered,  and  was  dashed  into  a  thousand  pieces  by  the  cane  of  a  madmaa. 
The  pieces,  however,  have  been  so  skillfully  joined  as  to  leave  no  trace  of  the  accident. 
1090 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  53 

perfectly  solid.  This  indicates  that  the  outside  layer  is  at  once  condensed  by  cooling,  while  the  inside  remains 
fluid  and  is  consequently  more  distended.  Though  the  outside  of  the  drop  is  very  hard,  and  a  severe  blow  may  be 
struck  upon  the  thick  part  without  any  perceptible  effect,  if  the  tail  or  thin  end  is  broken  the  whole  mass  instantly 
flies  to  pieces  with  a  slight  detonation.  Dumas  explains  these  phenomena  by  stating  that  when  at  last  the 
central  and  dilated  parts  of  the  drop  become  cooled  they  must  have  retained  points  of  adherence  to  the  surface, 
and  consequently  occupy  a  larger  volume  than  that  which  agrees  with  the  temperature  to  which  they  are  reduced. 
The  central  molecules,  therefore,  must  be  much  distended  and  exert  a  more  powerful  contracting  influence  on  the 
surrounding  parts;  are,  in  a  word,  "  on  a  strain,"  as  a  workman  would  term  it.  At  the  instant  when  a  part  of  the 
envelope  or  outer  portion  is  broken  the  molecules  held  by  it  briskly  contract,  draw  in  with  them  all  the  others, 
and  thus  determine  a  multitude  of  points  of  rupture ;  and  as  this  effect  is  instantaneous,  the  particles  move  very 
rapidly  and  drive  out  the  air  before  them,  producing  a  sudden  dilation  and  contraction  of  the  latter. 

BASTIB'S  TEMPERED  GLASS. — In  view  of  these  well-known  phenomena,  M.  de  la  Bastie  endeavored  to  find 
a  method  by  which  the  hard  surface  produced  by  immersion  in  water  could  be  retained  and  thickened  while 
the  objectionable  tendency  to  flying  in  pieces  would  be  lessened  or  removed.  In  his  experiments  he  found  that 
two  conditions  were  necessary :  first,  the  glass  must  be  brought  to  just  that  degree  of  heat  where  softness  or 
malleability  begins,  the  molecules  then  being  capable  of  closing  suddenly  together  and  condensing  the  material 
when  immersed  in  a  liquid  at  a  considerably  lower  temperature  ;  second,  the  liquid  employed  must  be  capable  of 
being  heated  much  higher  than  water  without  boiling.  He  therefore  adopted  an  oleaginous  mixture,  into  which 
he  plunged  the  glass,  reheating  the  latter,  which  had  previously  been  annealed  in  a  kiln. 

DIFFICULTIES  OF  THE  PROCESS. — This  process  was  admittedly  a  success  as  far  as  flat  or  solid  glass  was 
concerned,  although  the  necessity  of  heating  the  glass  to  the  point  of  softening  rendered  it  extremely  difficult  to 
handle,  and  the  liability  of  the  bath  to  catch  fire  had  to  be  lessened  in  some  manner;  but  both  these  difficulties  were 
overcome  by  M.  de  la  Bastie's  apparatus  for  reheating  and  plunging  the  glass.  The  process,  however,  was  found 
to  be  defective  as  regards  any  other  forms  of  glass,  such  as  hollow  flint  vessels,  as  such  glass,  while  being  reheated, 
is  almost  certain  to  collapse  before  reaching  the  required  temperature.  In  M.  de  la  Bastie's  experiments  at 
Whitefriars  glass  works,  England,  therefore,  a  new  plan  was  adopted,  by  which  the  bath  was  placed  as  Hear  the 
mouth  of  the  working  pot  as  possible,  and  the  workmen  dropped  the  finished  vessels  directly  into  it.  This  process 
was  found  to  answer  well  in  the  manufacture  of  all  vessels  made  in  one  piece,  and  the  somewhat  complicated 
apparatus  for  reheating  was  doue  away  with.  As  regards  the  character  of  the  glass  obtained  by  the  process,  Mr. 
Powell,  of  the  Whitetriars  woiks,  disposes  of  some  popular  fallacies  in  this  wise : 

Hardened  glass  is  not  unbreakable ;  it  is  only  harder  than  ordinary  glass,  and,  though  it  undoubtedly  stands  rough  usage  better,  it 
has  the  disadvantage  of  being  utterly  disintegrated  as  soon  as  it  receives  the  slightest  fracture,  and  np  to  the  present,  until  broken,  of 
bring  undistiuguishuble  from  ordinary  glass.  This  glass  is  known  as  "toughened"  glass,  and  we  have  seeu  the  terras  "malleable"  and 
"  annealed "  applied  to  it.  Nothing  can  be  more  misleading  than  these  unfortunate  epithets.  The  glass  is  hard,  and  not  tough  or 
malleable,  and  is  the  very  opposite  to  annealed  glass.  Annealed  glass  is  that  glass  the  molecules  of  which  have  been  allowed  to  settle 
themselves;  the  molecules  of  hardened  glass  have  been  tortured  into  their  position,  and  until  the  glass  is  broken  are  subject  to  an 
extreme  tension.  It  is  the  sudden  change  of  temperature  that  "hardens";  glass  heated  np  together  with  the  oil  may  be  annealed,  but 
decidedly  is  not  hardened.  A  piece  of  hardened  glass  is  only  a  modified  Rupert's  drop,  i.  e.,  it  is  case-hardened;  the  fracture  of  both  is 
ideutii-al ;  both  resist  the  diamond  and  both  can  be  annealed.  »  »  *  In  our  experiments  we  found  that  while  the  glass  could  be  marked 
with  the  diamond  or  smoothed  and  engraved  in  the  ordinary  way,  still  an  endeavor  to  cut  it  with  the  diamond,  or  even  the  disturbance 
caused  by  the  smoothing-whee!,  when  penetrating  to  any  appreciable  depth,  tended  to  weaken  or  even  to  cause  the  destruction  of  the 
entire  muss. 

For  practical  utility  the  value  of  glass  tempered  by  M.  de  la  Bastie's  process  is  of  course  impaired  by  its 
inability  to  be  cut,  and  also  its  utter  destruction  by  the  slightest  fracture.  It  will  stand  sudden  changes  of  temperature 
without  breaking,  but  if  reheated  slowly  to  a  high  temperature  its  temper  is  destroyed  and  it  becomes  as  common 
glass.  The  great  anticipations  which  were  at  first  formed  as  to  the  extended  use  of  the  glass  have  not  been 
realized.  M.  de  la  Bastie  has  made  some  improvements  in  his  process,  and  two  eminent  London  firms  adopted  it 
and  manufactured  the  glass  for  a  time,  but  finally  gave  it  up.  In  this  country  Messrs.  E.  dc  la  Chapelle  et  Cie.,  of 
Brooklyn,  manufacture  on  the  Bastie  system,  but  the  process  is  not  a  complete  success,  the  glass  not  being  uniform 
in  temper  or  producing  the  best  results. 

SIEMENS'  TEMPERED  GLASS. — While  M.  de  la  Bastie  was  introducing  his  discovery  to  public  notice  in  Europe 
Mr.  Fredench  Siemens,  who  is  owner  of  the  most  considerable  glass-bottle  works  in  Germany  and  Bohemia,  and 
perhaps  in  the  world,  was  studying  the  question  of  tempering  glass  03-  following  a  different  course  from  that 
selected  by  the  former.  Instead  of  plunging  hot  glass  objects  into  liquids,  Mr.  Siemens,  fearing  distortion  of  the 
articles  to  be  treated,  concei%'ed  the  idea  of  subjecting  them  to  tempering  by  placing  them  in  molds  between  cooled 
surfaces,  whereby  not  only  would  their  shape  be  maintained  intact,  but  force  could  also  be  applied,  if  necessary,  to 
press  the  molecules  of  glass  firmly  together.  By  these  means  glass  of  any  shape  could  be  tempered,  and  the  process 
was  considered  to  be  particularly  well  suited  for  the  production  of  strong  window-glass,  which  had  not  previously 
been  attempted.  Mr.  Siemens,  however,  soon  found  that  the  glass  so  prepared  was  liable  to  the  defect  of 
breaking  suddenly,  and  he  had  to  undertake  further  researches,  with  a  view  of  perfecting  his  process,  by  the  removal 

1091 


54 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


of  that  defect.  When  a  cube  of  tempered  glass  is  considered,  it  will  at  once  be  seen  that,  all  its  surfaces  having 
been  subjected  to  the  same  cooling  influence,  the  edges,  and  particularly  the  corners,  will  be  much  more  cooled 
than  the  broad  surfaces.  At  each  edge  the  cooling  will  take  place  from  two  surfaces,  and  at  each  corner  from  three 
surfaces,  from  which  circumstance  Mr.  Siemens  inferred  that  glass  so  treated  could  not  be  homogeneous  in  character, 
and  that  sudden  breakages  were  due  to  that  cause.  To  overcome  this  defect  Mr.  Siemens  modified  his  process  so 
as  to  limit  the  cooling  influence  of  his  apparatus  to  two  surfaces  of  the  glass  under  treatment.  From  these  surfaces 
the  cooling  and  tempering  action  is  transmitted  to  the  center  of  the  mass  in  a  uniform  manner,  whereby  homogeneous 
glass  is  produced  which  is  found  to  give  entire  satisfaction.  By  Mr.  Siemens'  process  glass  may  be  tempered  to 
various  degrees  of  hardness,  according  to  the  use  for  which  it  is  intended.  For  the  production  of  window  and  other 
flat  or  molded  glass  presses,  cooled  by  the  circulation  of  water,  are  employed,  but  in  dealing  with  large  castings  of 
glass,  such  as  railway  sleepers,  for  example,  the  castings  are  packed  in  rectangular  boxes,  or  trucks,  heated 
internally  for  their  reception,  and  all  interstices  between  them  are  filled  up  with  a  material  having  the  same 
conductivity  for  heat  as  glass.  These  boxes  or  trucks  are  constructed  so  as  to  prevent  dispersion  of  heat  at  their 
sides,  and  as  each  is  filled  with  glass  articles  it  is  withdrawn  from  the  kiln  to  cool  from  two  parallel  surfaces  only 
By  this  means  ideal  plates  are  formed,  which  are  treated  like  the  solid  plates  for  the  production  of  homogeneous 
tempered  glass  in  bulk.  Glass  railway  sleepers,  tempered  on  Mr.  Siemens'  plan,  have  been  introduced  in  England, 
and  have  been  put  in  actual  use  on  one  or  two  railway  lines. 

TESTS  OP  THE  SIEMENS'  GLASS. — A  number  of  tests  were  made  of  these  sleepers,  at  one  of  which  it  was 
shown  that  their  average  breaking  weight,  when  resting  on  supports  30  inches  apart,  was  5  tons.  At  another  time 
a  plate  of  Mr  Siemens'  toughened  glass,  9  inches  square  by  1£  inches  thick,  imbedded  in  gravel  ballast  9  inches 
deep,  and  having  on  its  top  a  wood  packing  one-eighth  of  an  inch  thick  and  a  piece  of  rail,  was  subjected  to  the 
action  of  a  falling  weight,  the  blows  being  delivered  on  the  rail.  The  weight  was  9  hundred-weight,  and  blows 
were  successively  delivered  by  letting  this  weight  fall  from  heights  of  3  feet,  5  feet  6  inches,  7  feet,  10  feet,  12  feet 
6  inches,  15  feet,  17  feet  6  inches,  and  20  feet.  Under  the  last-mentioned  blow  the  rail  broke,  the  glass,  however, 
being  uninjured.  A  higher  fall  could  not  be  obtained,  and  a  greater  weight  was  not  available.  A  smaller  section 
of  rail  was  substituted  for  that  previously  employed,  and  the  glass  was  broken  by  the  second  blow  of  the  9 
hundred-weight  falling  20  feet,  the  plate  being  driven  through  the  ballast  into  the  hard  ground.  A  cast  iron  plate, 
9  inches  square  and  one-half  an  inch  thick,  tested  in  a  similar  way,  broke  with  a  blow  from  the  9  hundred-weight 
weight  dropped  10  feet. 

USES  OF  SIEMENS'  GLASS. — Mr.  Siemens  writes  me,  under  date  of  January  "29,  1881: 

Extensive  works  are  about  to  be  established  in  England  for  carrying  out  my  process  and  for  producing  the  glass  to  be  tempered. 
These  works  will  at  the  start  comprise  furnaces  capable  of  producing  50  tons  of  glass  per  day,  and  will  be  arranged  in  view  of  being 
doubled  aud  trebled  in  a  short  time,  it  being  confidently  expected  that  a  large  demand  will  arise  for  strong  glass  as  a  substitute  for 
wood,  brass,  cast-iron,  stone,  and  other  substances,  in  the  condition  of  railway  and  tramway  sleepers,  gas-,  water-,  and  drain-pipes,  eava 
troughs  aud  gutters,  millstones  and  crushers,  tiles  for  roofing,  facing  walls  and  flooring,  plates  for  floors  of  bridges,  tanks,  and  cisterns, 
ship  lights,  telegraph  insulators,  etc.,  for  which  applications  tempered  glass  will  offer  the  advantages  of  economy  in  first  cost  and  greater 
durability  over  the  materials  now  usually  employed. 

COST  OF  SIEMENS'  GLASS. — The  cost  of  glass  toughened  on  Mr.  Siemens'  plan  is  stated  to  be  about  the 
same  per  ton  as  that  of  cast-iron ;  but  as  its  specific  gravity  is  only  about  one-third  that  of  iron,  the  cost  of  any 
article  of  given  dimensions  is,  of  course,  materially  less.  The  material  has  as  yet  been  too  recently  introduced, 
and  too  little  is  known  of  its  characteristics,  to  enable  any  very  decided  opinion  to  be  formed  as  to  its  future 
capabilities ;  but  the  results  of  the  experiments  so  far  made  are  certainly  of  a  very  promising  character,  and  the 
further  development  of  its  application  will  be  watched  with  much  interest. 

GLASS  FROM  BLAST-FURNACE  SLAG. — The  process  of  manufacturing  glass  from  the  waste  cinder  or  slag  of 
iron  blast-furnaces  is  simply  the  utilization  of  a  substance  which  already  contains  many  of  the  ingredients  of  glass 
by  adding  to  it  those  materials  necessary  to  complete  the  composition.  The  idea  is  not  a  new  one.  In  England, 
and  also  ou  the  continent,  a  sand  prepared  by  pulverizing  slag  has  long  been  used  as  an  ingredient  in  glass- 
making  with  much  success.  It  is  possible  that  much  of  the  early  glass  was  metallurgical  slags  remelted. 

RELATIVE  COMPOSITION  OF  GLASS  AND  SLAG. — Recent  comparative  investigation  into  the  composition  of 
glass  aud  of  slag  shows  that  the  use  of  the  latter  in  this  manner  is  not  without  reason,  the  two  substances  being 
very  similar,  as  is  shown  by  the  following  table : 


Constituents. 

Composition  of 
iron  slag  (Welsh 
or  Soulh  Staf- 
fordshire). 

Composition  of 
bottloplass 
(quantities  va- 
riable). 

Silica   

Per  cent. 
40 

Percent. 
45  to  60 

35 

18  to  28 

16 

6  to  12 

| 

0  to   7 

Alkali   

tto   2 

2to   7 

Oxide  of  iron  

1  to    2 

2  to    6 

MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  55 

A  trace  of  sulphur  is  also  found  in  slag  associated  with  the  lime,  but  this  readily  passes  away  with  heat,  and 
is  insignificant.  The  iron,  which  would  seem  to  be  the  most  objectionable  element,  while  present  in  too  great 
quantity  for  the  manufacture  of  perfectly  clear  glass,  is  still  less  than  is  often  required  by  the  glass-maker.  The 
chief  points  of  difference  between  the  slag  and  the  glass  are  in  the  silica,  alkali,  and  iron,  the  slag  being  too 
deficient  in  sand  to  make  a  hard  glass. 

ADDITIONS  TO  SLAG  IN  THE  MANUFACTURE  OP  GLASS. — To  make  glass  of  slag  of  the  composition  given  the 
additions  indicated  in  the  following  table  should  be  made : 

Slag.                                                                                         Additions.  Glass. 

Silica 40  Ferruginous  sand 60=100  or  57. 14  per  cent. 

Lime 35  35  or  20. 00  per  cent. 

Alumina 16 16  or    9. 14  per  cent. 

Magnesia 6  6  or    3.43percent. 

Alkali -• 1  Soda 10=  11  or   6.29percent. 

Oxideofiron 2  From  the  sand 5=    7  or    4.00percent. 


100  175     100.00 

Thus  by  combining  with  100  parts  of  slag  10  parts  of  soda  and  65  of  sand  the  proportions  of  the  lime,  alumina, 
and  other  constituents  are  severally  altered,  and  a  compound  formed  of  the  precise  nature  required.  It  is  to  be 
noted  that  the  figures  come  well  within  the  limits  of  difference  found  in  the  analyses  of  glass  given  in  the  previous 
table.  It  would  seem  that  the  variation  in  the  purity  of  the  slag  would  interfere  with  certainty  in  its  use ;  but 
daily  analyses  of  slag  at  a  furnace  in  Great  Britain  have  shown  that  its  composition  is  measurably  regular,  enough 
so  for  all  practical  purposes. 

USE  OF  HOT  SLAG. — To  take  slag,  however,  which  has  cooled,  and  remelt  it  in  connection  with  the  additions 
named,  would  require  so  intense  a  heat  as  to  counterbalance  all  benefit  to  be  derived  from  its  cheapness.  A  plan 
was  brought  to  public  notice  in  England  in  1876  by  which  the  slag  is  taken  as  it  comes  from  the  blast-furnace  and 
converted  into  glass  without  cooling.  Mr.  Bashley  Britten,  the  originator  of  this  plan,  has  established  glass  works 
at  Finedon,  in  Northamptonshire,  at  which  the  slag  from  the  Finedon  furnaces  is  used.  The  molten  slag  is  conveyed 
(presumably  in  covered  iron  vessels  mounted  on  wheels)  to  the  glass  furnace  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  and  is 
poured,  after  the  addition  of  the  necessary  ingredients,  directly  into  the  melting  furnace,  where,  after  proper  fusion, 
it  is  run  into  another  chamber,  from  which  it  is  drawn  by  the  workmen  and  fashioned  into  shapes.  The  products  of 
these  works  comprise  chiefly  such  articles  as  wine  and  beer  bottles,  which  do  not  require  a  colorless  glass.  This 
process  might  be  much  improved  by  locating  the  glass  house  immediately  adjacent  to  the  blast-furnace,  from  which 
the  slag  could  be  run  directly  into  the  melting  furnace.  In  regard  to  the  great  economy  of  the  process,  Mr.  Britten 
says,  (a)  referring  to  the  table  given  above  : 

The  above  175  parts  or  tons  of  glass  \vonld,  consequently,  be  produced  with  the  following  economy:  One  hundred  tons  of  it  would 
cost  an  iron-master  nothing.  Instead  of  the  labor  of  mixing  and  handling  in  the  usual  way  the  whole  quantity  of  the  material,  only  75 
tons  would  have  to  be  lifted  into  the  furnace.  The  only  ingredients  to  be  bought  are  65  tons  of  common  yellow  or  red  sand,  to  be  had 
anywhere  at  a  mere  nominal  price,  and  10  tons  of  common  sulphate  of  soda,  which  may  be  bought  or  made  for  about  20».  per  ton.  The 
necessary  fuel  would  be  limited  to  what  is  needed  beyond  the  surplus  heat  of  the  slag  to  raise  only  three-sevenths  of  the  glass  to  the 
required  heat;  and  it  is  a  question  whether  the  greater  part  of  even  this  might  not  be  saved  by  bringing  down  some  of  the  spare  gases 
from  the  blast-furnace  and  ^employing  them  with  regenerators ;  if  needed,  they  could  easily  be  enriched  with  a  little  added  carbon. 
Against  these  items  there  would  be  a  set-off  from  the  cost  of  removing  the  100  tons  of  slag,  which  must  otherwise  be  thrown  away. 
Beside  this,  another  and  considerable  saving  would  arise  from  the  wear  and  tear  of  the  glass  furnace  being  lessened,  in  consequence  of 
four-sevenths  of  the  materials  going  into  them  being  already  fused.  Under  such  circumstances  the  total  cost  of  the  glass  in  a  melted 
state  ready  for  working  is  seen  to  be  so  extremely  small  that  it  is  hardly  safe  to  venture  to  express  it  in  figures ;  it  scarcely  amounts  to 
the  value  of  the  commonest  bricks  per  ton. 

COLOK  OF  SLAG  GLASS. — The  natural  tint  of  the  glass  thus  produced  is  greenish,  but  it  can  be  colored  to  any 
required  tint,  and  by  careful  fining  and  bleaching  it  can  be  produced  almost  as  colorless  as  common  window-glass.  A 
cheaper  glass  can  be  made  by  using  more  slag  and  less  sand,  and  with  some  ores  the  slag  is  said  to  be  sufficiently 
siliceous  in  itself  to  be  converted  into  a  black  or  dark  green  or  amber  glass.  With  the  simple  addition  of  soda  and 
a  little  arsenic  it  becomes  transparent  and  perfectly  workable,  and  may  be  used  for  many  purposes.  Acid,  however, 
corrodes  this  glass,  on  account  of  its  want  of  silica.  Glass  of  superior  quality  to  the  first  mentioned  can  also  be 
produced.  The  constituents  of  slag,  as  has  been  seen,  are  common  to  all  kinds  of  green  glass,  and  by  diluting  them 
with  the  usual  pure  materials  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  the  compound  maybe  brought  up  toany  standard  short  of 
the  purity  of  color  inconsistent  with  the  iron  and  sometimes  manganese  in  the  slag.  Should  the  manufacture  of 
glass  in  this  manner  ever  be  deemed  of  sufficient  importance  to  warrant  the  taking  of  steps  to  purify  the  slag, 
much  more  might  be  accomplished.  The  working  qualities  of  the  glass  thus  produced  are  excellent,  admitting  of  its 
being  blown,  cast,  or  pressed  with  great  ease,  and  Mr.  Britten's  company  propose  to  enter  into  the  manufacture  of 
other  articles  beside  bottle  from  a  material  so  cheaply  produced. 

a  See  his  paper  in  Journal  of  British  Iron  and  Steel  Institute,  1876,  pages  453-467. 

1093 


56  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


CHAPTER  VIII.— HISTORY  OF  SOME  PROCESSES  OF  GLASS-MAKING. 


For  many  years  the  question  as  to  whether  window- glass  was  known  to  the  ancients  was  a  matter  of  doubt  and 
discussion,  and  it  has  only  been  recently  that  the  evidence  of  its  use  prior  to  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era  has 
been  conclusive.  Winckelman,  the  author  of  the  remarkable  History  of  Art,  who  was  assassinated  in  1768,  pleaded 
its  antiquity,  but  by  far  the  greater  number  of  scientific  men  considered  it  a  modern  invention,  their  view  being 
strengthened  by  the  almost  utter  absence  of  any  allusion  by  ancient  writers  to  window-glass  and  the  utter  lack  of 
fragments  of  this  glass,  though  large  quantities  of  pieces  of  vases  and  other  vessels  had  been  found.  This  want 
of  allusion  and  absence  of  remains  shows  that  at  least  it  was  of  rare  occurrence  and  use. 

The  first  positive  evidence  of  the  antiquity  of  window-glass  was  its  discovery,  in  the  year  1763,  in  a  small 
chamber  attached  to  the  bathing-room  of  a  private  dwelling,  the  House  of  the  Faun,  unearthed  at  Pompeii,  "  in  a 
window  closed  by  a  movable  frame  of  wood,  which,  though  converted  into  charcoal,  still  held  when  it  was  found 
four  panes  of  glass  about  6  inches  square."  In  1824,  in  a  room  connected  with  the  public  baths,  "  a  window  2  feet  6 
inches  high  and  3  feet  wide,  in  a  bronze  frame,  in  which  were  found  set  four  beautiful  panes  of  glass  fastened  by 
small  nuts  and  screws,  very  ingeniously  contrived  with  a  view  to  being  able  to  remove  the  glass  at  pleasure,"  was 
discovered.  Eemains  of  what  is  supposed  to  be  window-glass  of  the  Roman  period  are  now  occasionally  found  in 
the  ruins  of  Roman  houses  built  in  England  and  Italy.  Dr.  Bruce,  in  his  work  on  the  Roman  wall,  states  that 
"  fragments  of  window-glass  are  frequently  found  at  some  of  the  stations",  and  in  1855  he  exhibited  at  Newcastle 
samples  found  in  the  course  of  his  excavations  at  Bremenium.  It  is  also  certain  now  that  glass  was  used  by  the 
Romans  for  green  houses  and  for  the  frames  used  over  plants.  The  glass  found  at  Pompeii  shows  by  chemical  analysis 
a  very  close  resemblance  to  the  glass  of  modern  days,  containing  about  69£  per  cent,  of  silica,  7^  per  cent,  of  lime, 
and  17J  per  cent,  of  soda,  with  3£  per  cent,  of  alumina.  This  glass  also  contained  1.15  per  cent,  of  oxide  of  iron 
and  0.39  per  cent,  of  oxide  of  manganese,  the  latter  being  used  probably  to  correct  the  color  due  to  the  iron. 

It  must  not,  however,  be  supposed  that  glass  was  used  to  any  great  extent  in  the  windows  of  dwelling-houses 
at  this  time.  The  glass  was  not  blown,  but  probably  cast  on  a  stone,  as  it  is  very  uneven  and  full  of  defects. 

Before  the  close  of  the  third  century,  however,  window- glass  begins  to  be  mentioned  in  the  writings  chiefly  of  the 
monks  and  priests  of  the  time,  and  mainly  in  connection  with  the  glazing  of  churches.  About  this  time  reference  is 
made  to  window-glass  by  Lactanfius,  A.  D.  290,  who  says  that  "our  soul  sees  and  distinguishes  objects  by  the  eyes 
of  the  body  as  through  windows  filled  with  glass  ".  Jerome,  A.  D.  331,  speaks  of  sheets  or  plates  of  glass  obtained 
by  casting,  the  casting-table  being  a  large  flat  stone,  and  the  ordinance  of  Constantine  II,  A.  D.  337,  mentions 
specularii,  who  were  probably  glaziers  working  in  other  materials  as  well  as  in  glass. 

From  this  time  the  evidences  of  the  rise  of  window-glass  multiply.  It  is  reasonably  certain  that  it  was  employed 
in  the  church  at  Treves  early  in  420.  During  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries  many  large  churches  were  built  at  Rome 
and  Ravenna  which  were  filled  with  numerous  windows,  and  in  the  sixth  century  the  glazed  windows  in  the  church 
of  Saint  Sophia,  at  Constantinople,  with  panes  from  7  to  8  inches  wide  by  9  to  10  inches  high,  were  among  the 
wonders  of  the  East.  Indeed,  it  was  the  building  of  churches,  or  the  conversion  of  pagan  temples  into  houses  for 
Christian  worship,  that  extended  the  use  of  window-glass  at  that  time.  The  Roman  priests  kept  the  windows  and 
sometimes  the  roof  of  the  buildings  open  to  read  the  auguries,  but  these  the  Christian  priests  closed. 

Window-glass  was  used  in  France  as  early  as  the  third  century,  but  became  more  common  in  the  sixth.  Late 
in  the  seventh  century  "  Abbot  Benedict",  so  saith  the  venerable  Bede,  "  sent  for  artists  from  beyond  the  seas  to  glaze 
the  church  and  monastery  at  Wearmouth,"  and  York  cathedral  was  glazed  about  the  same  time.  In  the  eleventh 
and  twelfth  centuries  glass  was  generally  employed  in  the  windows  of  the  religious  edifices,  and  it  is  reported  that 
somewhere  about  the  end  of  the  first  thousand  years  of  the  Christian  era  a  window-glass  works  was  established  at 
Newcastle-on-Tyne,  which  proved  a  failure.  From  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century  the  use  of  glass  for  windows 
became  more  and  more  common. 

The  earliest  glass  used  for  windows  was  undoubtedly  cast,  that  used  at  Pompeii  having  evidently  be$n  cast 
on  a  stone,  on  the  same  principle  as  plate-glass  is  made  at  the  present  time,  only  it  was  not  polished.  It  thus 
appears  that,  though  rough  cast  plate-glass  was  for  a  long  time  believed  to  be  a  modern  invention,  it  really  is 
the  oldest  method  of  making  glass  for  windows.  This  was,  however,  probably  in  the  twelfth  or  thirteenth  century, 
or  perhaps  earlier,  abandoned  for  blown  window-glass,  and  was  revived  and  virtually  rediscovered  in  France  in 
1688  by  Abram  Thevart.  He  obtained  a  patent  for  thirty  years  for  the  invention,  and  erected  works  in  Paris,  where 
plates  were  cast  of  the  then  extraordinary  dimensions  of  84  inches  long  by  50  inches  wide.  This  works  was 
transferred  to  Saint-Gobain,  which  has  since  become  celebrated  for  its  plate-glass.  Disputes  arose  between  Thevart's 
company  and  a  company  of  Venetian  workmen  who  were  manufacturing  blown  plates  near  Cherbourg,  and  Thevart's 
company  was  bound  not  to  cast  any  plates  whose  dimensions  should  be  less  than  60  inches  in  length  and  40  in 

breadth.    To  end  the  rivalry  the  two  companies  were  consolidated.    Two  years,  however,  from  the  consolidation 
1094 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  57 

\ 

the  company  was  iu  a  state  of  insolvency,  and  many  of  its  furnaces  were  abandoned.  Blanconrt  gives  a  different 
account  of  the  invention  of  plate  glass,  and  ascribes  it  to  the  accidental  spilling  of  some  liquid  glass  from  a  crucible 
upon  the  ground.  The  metal  having  ran  under  one  of  the  large  flat  stones  with  which  the  place  was  paved,  upon 
taking  up  the  stone  a  piece  of  plate-glass  was  found  under  it.  This  is  stated  to  have  been  two  hundred  years  before 
Blancourt  wrote  in  1699.  The  first  English  establishment  of  any  magnitude  for  the  manufacture  of  glass  was  begun 
in  1772  or  1773  at  Ravenshead,  at  which  date  "the  Governor  and  Company"  "of  the  British  Plate-Glass 
Manufacturers"  were  incorporated  for  the  purpose  of  manufacturing  plate-glass  in  England,  and  as  late  as  1832  this 
was  the  only  establishment  in  that  country.  Since  that  time,  however,  a  number  of  works  have  been  established. 
The  oldest  plate-glass  works  in  Belgium,  we  believe,  dates  from  near  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  while 
that  of  Germany  has  been  in  existence  but  a  few  years. 

As  noted,  it  is  very  difficult  to  say  when  blown  window-glass  was  first  made ;  but  one  of  the  earliest  notices 
of  it  is  by  the  monk  Theophilus,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  who,  in  his  Essay  on  Divers  Arts,  gives  an  account  of  a 
method  then  employed  of  blowing  glass,  which  is  a  perfect  description  of  that  used  at  the  present  time.  For 
many  years  the  factories  at  Venice  were  renowned  for  their  blown  window-glass,  and  iu  the  seventeenth  century 
workmen  from  its  houses  were  scattered  in  various  parts  of  Europe  and  taught  many  of  the  glass- workers  of 
the  different  countries  the  method  of  making  cylinder-glass.  Nesbitt  also  states  that  window-glass  was  made  in 
Germany  at  a  very  early  period,  and  it  also  seems,  from  a  statement  quoted  elsewhere  regarding  the  windows  of 
Beauchamp  chapel  at  Warwick,  that  window-glass  was  made  in  England,  probably  blown,  in  the  fifteenth  century. 
Mr.  Chance  states  that  the  manufacture  of  blown  window-glass  in  England  existed  in  the  fifteenth  century,  and 
perhaps  even  prior  to  that  period ;  but  the  glass  then  produced  was  of  a  very  inferior  description,  and  the  first  works 
of  note  established  in  England  were  those  of  Sir  Matthew  White  Ridley  &  Co.,  on  the  river  Tyne,  at  Newcastle, 
about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

VASES,  CUPS,  AND  OTHEK  HOLLOW  WAKE. — As  has  already  been  noted,  the  earliest  records  of  glass-making 
(those  on  the  tombs  of  Beni-Hassan  and  at  Memphis)  show  unmistakably  that  the  art  of  glass-blowing  was  well 
known  at  the  early  period  at  which  these  tombs  were  built.  One  of  these  figures  illustrates  two  glass-blowers, 
with  their  blowing  irons  or  rods  in  their  hands,  heating  the  glass,  which  has  evidently  been  gathered,  in  a  small 
U-shaped  furnace.  Another  drawing  represents  two  men  blowing  a  vase. 

From  that  day  to  this  the  production  of  various  kinds  of  hollow  ware  has  not  ceased.  An  immense  number  of 
articles  of  this  character,  including  vases  and  cups  of  all  sizes  and  almost  all  shapes,  from  those  of  the  most 
common  description  to  others  showing  the  most  exquisite  art,  as  instanced  in  the  Portland  and  the  Naples  vases, 
and  bottles  of  all  forms  and  decanters,  have  been  found.  Indeed,  so  common  and  persistent  has  been  the 
manufacture  of  these  various  articles,  that  the  history  of  ancient  and  modern  glass  is  chiefly  the  history  of  the 
manufacture  of  hollow  ware,  and,  as  we  have  entered  so  fully  into  the  statement,  nothing  more  need  be  said  here. 

LEAD  GLASS. — The  invention  of  what  was  so  long  known  as  flint-glass,  and  now  generally  termed  lead  flint, 
to  distinguish  it  from  the  lime  flint  of  the  glass  houses  of  to-day,  is  an  English  invention.  Its  production  was  a 
necessity  arising  out  of  the  use  of  coal  in  the  place  of  wood  In  the  furnace.  This  substitution  of  coal  for  wood  affected 
injuriously  the  color  of  the  glass,  and  to  overcome  the  pernicious  effects  of  the  smoke  the  melting-pot  was  covered 
with  a  clay  cap,  which  gave  it  the  shape  of  a  short-necked  retort.  It  was  found,  however,  that  though  the  metal 
was  protected  from  the  action  of  the  smoke,  it  was  also  protected  from  the  action  of  the  heat,  and  it  became  evident 
that  either  the  time  of  melting,  as  well  as  the  consumption  of  fuel,  must  be  very  much  greater,  or  some  flux  or  alkali 
must  be  used  which  would  not  deteriorate  the  glass,  but  hasten  its  melting.  The  flux  used  was  lead,  which  had 
to  a  slight  extent  been  employed  on  the  continent  of  Europe  for  some  time  previous  in  the  manufacture  of  artificial 
gems :  a  use  which  may  probably  have  suggested  its  employment  for  the  making  of  flint-glass.  The  use  of  lead, 
however,  in  the  manufacture  of  glass  was  not  entirely  unknown  before,  as  lead  is  found  in  many  specimens  of 
ancient  glass,  and  Heraclius  gives  a  recipe  for  making  glass  with  lead.  There  was  also  a  glass,  known  as  the 
Jewish,  made  with  lead  in  the  Middle  Ages.  M.  Peligot,  however,  reviewing  these  facts,  comes  to  the  conclusion 
that  there  is  no  proof  that  the  true  flint-glass  was  known  to  the  ancients,  and  that  to  the  English  should  really  be 
attributed  the  honor  of  having  created  in  their  flint-glass  a  new  product,  which,  by  the  progress  made  in  the  quality 
and  selection  of  the  materials  used  in  its  fabrication,  has  become  without  dispute  the  most  beautiful  glassy 
substance  which  we  know,  aud  which  it  may  be  possible  to  produce. 

The  date  of  the  introduction  of  the  manufacture  of  flint-glass  with  lead  is  placed  by  M.  Bontemps  about  1635 ; 
Nesbitt  suggests  that  it  may  have  been  1615. 

THE  USE  OF  MOLDS  is  generally  believed  to  have  been  a  comparatively  modern  invention;  but,  as  is  shown  in  the 
chapter  on  ancient  glass,  it  is  evident  that  some  of  the  vases  used  in  very  remote  times  were  not  blown,  but  were 
cast  or  molded  over  a  sand  or  clay  core,  which  was  afterward  broken  up.  It  also  seems  that  the  so-called  Roman 
molded  glass,  which  was  supposed  to  be  a  modern  invention,  was  well  known  to  the  Romans,  as  specimens  exhumed 
in  the  city  of  London  prove.  At  what  time,  however,  the  modern  method  of  using  molds  in  the  production  of 
various  forms  of  hollow  glass  was  first  introduced  is  not  known,  though  it  is  evident  that  the  use  of  these  has 
largely  increased  within  the  years  since  the  introduction  of  the  ase  of  the  lever-press  for  molding  or  pressing  glass. 

1095 


58  MANUFACTUKE  OF  GLASS. 

PRESSED  GLASS. — One  of  the  most  important  inventions  of  recent  times,  especially  in  the  line  of  cheapening 
glassware,  has  been  the  production  of  what  is  generally  known  as  pressed  glass.  This  is  an  American  invention, 
and  the  right  of  this  country  to  the  honor  of  its  production  has  not  been  called  in  question  until  recently.  Lardner, 
in  his  Cabinet  Cyclopedia,  published  in  1832,  which  has  a  very  complete  resume  of  the  methods  of  making  glass  in  use 
at  that  time,  has  not  even  a  suggestion  of  the  pressing  process.  Pellatt,  in  his  Curiosities  of  Glass-making,  published 
in  1849,  says : 

The  invention  of  pressing  glass  by  machinery  has  been  introduced  into  England  from  the  United  States  of  America.  It  has  not, 
however,  realized  the  anticipations  of  manufacturers;  for,  by  the  contact  of  the  metal-plunger  with  tlfe  glass,  the  latter  loses  much  of 
the  brilliant  transparency  so  admired  in  cut-glass  ;  hence  it  is  now  chiefly  used  for  common  and  cheap  articles.  The  process  of  rewarming 
or  fire-polishing  after  the  pressure  has  somewhat  remedied  this  defect. 

Eecently,  however,  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  deprive  the  American  glass  manufacturers  of  the  credit  of 
this  invention.  The  London  Pottery  Oazette,  in  a  recent  issue,  says : 

There  seems  to  be  a  general  impression  that  pressed  glass  was  first  made  in  the  United  States.  This  is  an  error.  The  addition  of  the 
ring  to  give  the  thickness  was  undoubtedly  an  American  invention;  and  this  discovery,  trifling  in  itself,  opened  up  the  pressed  trade  in 
a  remarkable  way  by  enabling  the  lever  used  in  modern  pressing  to  force  up  the  metal  sharply,  so  as  to  give  it  the  appearance  of  cut- 
glass,  as  well  as  to  closely  imitate  cut-glass  patterns. 

Many  in  the  English  glass  trade  are  living  who  remember  the  pressed  square-footed  ales  and  goblets.  These  are  as  old  as  the  end  of 
the  last  century,  and  were  very  fashionable  with  our  ancestors.  At  first  they  were  cut  over,  but  they  perfected  the  make  so  that  they 
were  simply  cut  at  the  bottom  to  take  off  the  overplus. 

ANCIENT  PRESSED  GLASS. — It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  glass  was  pressed  before  the  invention  of  the  American 
lever-press,  and  one  of  the  earliest  specimens,  bearing  an  inscription  from  which  its  date  may  be  ascertained,  is  the 
lion's  head,  now  in  the  Slade  collection  in  the  British  museum,  which  was  found  many  years  ago  at  Thebes.  This 
is  evidently  a  piece  of  pressed  glass,  or  glass  pressed  in  a  mold.  In  the  British  museum  are  also  many  pipces 
of  glass  found  at  lalyssos,  in  Ehodes,  chiefly  disks,  all  of  which  have  evidently  been  produced  by  pressure  with  a 
mold  or  die.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Venetians  were  acquainted  with  pressed  glass;  but,  notwithstanding  this, 
the  invention  of  what  is  now  known  as  pressed  glass  is  undoubtedly  American.  The  same  line  of  reasoning 
that  is  adopted  to  prove  that  this  is  not  an  American  invention  would  also  prove  that  lead-flint  glass  was  not  an 
English  invention.  Lead  was  used  to  make  glass  centuries  before  the  invention  of  lead-flint  in  England,  but  the 
English  are  none  the  less  entitled  to  the  credit  of  the  discovery  of  that  beautiful,  brilliant  ware  that  we  know- 
to-day  as  lead-flint  glass.  Glass  was  no  doubt  made  by  pressing  many  centuries  ago,  but  the  invention  of  pressed 
glass,  as  it  is  understood  to-day,  the  use  of  a  mechanical  press  with  mold,  plunger,  lever,  etc.,  is  due  to  American 
ingenuity.  Pellatt,  when  referring  to  specimens  of  the  embossed  and  pressed  glass  of  the  ancients,  says:  (a)  "No 
machinery  was  used  by  them  in  producing1  any  completely  pressed  hollow  vessel  or  utensil  at  one  operation."  It 
occurs  to  me  that  if  Mr.  Pellatt,  with  all  of  his  knowledge  and  information  regarding  ancient  glass-making  and 
his  years  of  practical  connection  with  the  business  in  England,  ascribes  the  invention  of  modern  pressed  glass  to 
Americans,  his  testimony  cannot  be  impeached. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  INVENTION. — The  invention  of  the. American  press  is  ascribed  to  a  Massachusetts  carpenter 
in  the  town  of  Sandwich,  about  1827,  who,  wanting  an  article  of  glassware  made  for  some  purpose,  went  to  Mr. 
Deming  Jarves  and  asked  him  if  he  could  make  the  article  desired.  Mr.  Jarves  told  him  that  it  would  be  impossible 
for  the  glass-blowers  to  make  such  an  article.  The  carpenter,  who  was  of  a  mechanical  turn  of  mind,  asked  if  a 
machine  could  not  be  made  to  press  glass  into  any  shape.  This  idea  was  scouted  at  first,  but  upon  second  thought 
Mr.  Jarves  and  the  carpenter  fashioned  a  rude  press  and  made  their  first  experiment.  This  machine  was  intended 
to  make  tumblers,  and  when  the  hot  molten  glass  was  ponred  into  the  mold,  which  was  to  determine  whether  glass 
could  be  pressed,  the  experiment  was  witnessed  by  many  glass-makers  of  that  time.  They  were  nearly  all  of  the 
opinion  that  the  experiment  would  come  to  naught,  and  were  greatly  amazed  when  the  result  demonstrated  that  it 
was  possible  to  press  glass.  From  that  time  the  manufacture  of  articles  of  glass  by  the  use  of  pressing  machines 
gradually  developed,  until  to-day  the  bulk  of  the  glassware  produced  in  this  country  is  made  with  presses.  The  first 
tumbler  manufactured  in  the  rough  improvised  press,  alluded  to  above,  remained  in  Mr.  Jarves'  possession  for 
many  years,  and  then  passed  into  the  hands  of  John  A.  Dobson,  a  well-known  glass  dealer  in  Baltimore,  and  was 
exhibited  at  the  Centennial  Exhibition  by  Hobbs,  Brockunier  &  Co.,  when  it  was  accidentally  broken  by  Mr.  John 
H.  Hobbs. 

The  London  Pottery  Oazette,  to  which  we  have  referred  above,  in  an  article  claiming  the  invention  of  pressed 
ware  for  England,  says:  "The  first  pressed  tumbler  was  undoubtedly  English,  and  was  made  about  1836."  As 
Mr.  Jarves  made  his  pressed  tumbler  in  1827,  as  described  above,  we  think  that  the  evidence  is  conclusive  that  the 
first  pressed  tumbler  was  not  English,  but  American. 

The  result  of  this  American  invention  in  cheapening  glass  has  been  most  marked.  By  the  use  of  iron  or  other 
metal  molds  immense  quantities  of  the  same  article  can  be  produced  at  a  very  low  rate.  This  invention  has  in 
fact  revolutionized  the  whole  system  of  flint-glass  manufacture,  and  has  made  it  possible  for  all  to  possess  for 
common  use  glass  that  in  gracefulness  of  form  and  beauty  of  design  and  material  was  formerly  within  the  reach 
of  only  the  niost  wealthy. 

a  See  Pellatt's  Curiosities  of  Glass-making,  page  122,  note. 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  59 

CHAPTER  IX.— ANCIENT  GLASS. 


DISCOVERY  OF  GLASS. — But  little  is  known  of  the  early  history  of  glass-making,  and  absolutely  nothing  of 
the  method  and  date  of  its  discovery.  The  story  told  by  Pliny,  (a)  and  repeated  substantially  by  Tacitus  (6)  and  by 
Strabo,  (c)  of  its  accidental  discovery  by  some  storm-driven  Phoenician  mariners  while  cooking  their  food  on  the 
banks  of  the  river  Belus,  (d)  is  not  entitled  to  the  least  credence.  It  is  impossible  that  the  high  temperature 
necessary  to  the  production  of  glass  could  have  been  obtained  in  the  manner  described  in  these  fables.  It  is  true, 
however,  that  a  small  spot  at  the  mouth  of  this  river  supplied  a  most  excellent  sand,  which  was  used  not  only  by 
the  Phoenicians,  but  by  many  other  ancient  glass- workers,  and  even  by  the  Venetians  in  latter  times.  This  fact, 
coupled  with  the  excellence  of  the  Phoenician  glass  and  the  commercial  enterprise  of  the  people,  which  carried 
the  products  of  their  manufactories  to  all  lands,  may  have  given  rise  to  the  story  related  by  Pliny,  and  thus  for  a 
time  robbed  the  Egyptians  of  the  credit  of  a  discovery  which  is  undoubtedly  theirs. 

PROBABLE  METHOD  OF  DISCOVERY. — While  nothing  positive  is  known  of  the  method  of  the  discovery  of  glass, 
it  is  not  improbable  that  it  was  in  connection  with  tbe  older  art  of  metallurgy,  (e)  Many  metallurgical  operations 
produce  in  their  vitreous  slag  a  coarse  colored  glass  that  may  have  led  to  the  manufacture  of  glass  as  a  direct 
product.  All  of  the  oldest  specimens  of  glass  are  colored,  and,  so  far  as  these  have  been  analyzed,  the  coloring 
matter  is  metallic.  The  extreme  variability  in  the  composition  of  this  antique  colored  glass  led  Klaproth  to  the 
conclusion  that  many  of  the  specimens  are  merely  metallurgical  slags  remelted.  It  is  also  true  that  much  of  the 
ancient  glass  is  "  cast."  These  facts  certainly  indicate,  if  its  discovery  was  not  due  to  this  older  art,  that  metallurgy 
had  an  important  influence  on  early  glass-making. 

EGYPTIAN  GLASS. — The  earliest  evidences  of  the  existence  of  the  art  of  glass-making  are  found  in  Egypt.  It 
is  impossible,  however,  to  surmise  even  at  what  time  it  began  to  be  made  in  that  country,  aside  from  the  certainty 
that  the  art  antedates  by  many  centuries  the  time  of  its  earliest  inscriptions  and  specimens.  Egyptian  chronology 
is  so  uncertain,  that  the  same  events  are  assigned  by  different  Egyptolpgists  to  periods  thousands  of  years  apart. 
Inscriptions,  paintings,  and  the  glass  itself,  however,  indicate  its  manufacture  at  least  from  4,000  to  6,000  years  ago.  (/) 
Rawlinson,  (g)  a  most  conservative  authority,  states  that  "glass  was  known  in  Egypt  as  early  as  the  Pyramid 
Period",  which  he  places  at  2450  B.  C.  (h)  That  at  this  early  date  the  art  of  glass-making  had  reached  a  high  degree 
of  perfection  and  development  seems  beyond  question.  The  art  of  blowin  g  glass  into  bottles,  fashioning  it  into 
vases  and  drinking-cups,  pressing  it  into  various  shapes,  especially  figures  of  deities,  sacred  emblems  and  coins, 
forming  it  into  huge  masses  for  pillars,  adapting  it  for  mosaic  art,  coloring  it  to  imitate  precious  stones,  the  color 
being  of  surpassing  brilliancy,  working  it  into  beads  or  necklaces,  these  and  similar  processes  were  well  known 
and  practiced  with  great  skill.  It  would  seem  impossible  that  the  processes  necessary  to  the  production  of  these 
forms  of  glass  could  have  been  developed  without  centuries  of  practice.  The  invention  of  the  art  of  blowing  glass, 
which  is  unmistakably  figured  on  the  tombs  of  Mastaba  of  Tih,  at  Memphis,  and  on  the  tombs  at  Beni-Hassan,  (t) 
is  as  remarkable  as  the  discovery  of  glass  itself,  and  would  indicate  an  advance  in  the  art  that,  in  that  day  of 
slow  development,  must  have  required  many  centuries  to  evolve.  The  manufacture  thus  early  begun  was  continued  by 
Egypt  far  into  the  Christian  era,  and  under  the  various  dynasties  and  rulers,  both  native  and  foreign,  it  continued 
to  flourish.  When  Egypt  passed  under  the  dominion  of  Rome,  its  glass  houses  found  in  the  palaces  and  villas  of  the 
the  imperial  city  a  larger  and  more  profitable  market  for  their  wares,  and  even  as  late  as  the  third  century  its 
glass  works  were  still  in  operation,  an  ordinance  of  Aurelian  providing  that  glass  should  form  a  part  of  the 

a  See  Pliny's  History,  book  xxxvi,  chap,  xxvii. 

6  Histories,  book  vi. 

c  Geography,  book  xvi. 

d  This  river  runs  along  the  base  of  Mount  Cannel,  and  empties  into  the  Mediterranean  near  the  modern  city  of  Saint  Jean  d'Acre. 

e  Metallurgy  is  one  of  the  arts  the  invention  of  -which  is  ascribed  by  the  Egyptians  to  Osiris,  and  while  the  first  man  was  living 
copper  and  iron  were  melted  and  worked  (Gen.,  iv :  22).  Some  writers  incline  to  the  opinion  that  the  discovery  of  glass  was  in  connection 
with  the  art  of  pottery  in  making  the  glassy  glaze. 

/  Among  the  earliest  traces  of  glass  are  those  found  in  the  ruins  of  Memphis,  built  by  Menes,  first  king  of  Egypt,  whose  reign  Manetho 
places  at  5004  B.  C.  The  mummies  in  the  tombs  of  this  city  wear  necklaces  of  paste-glass  beads.  Glass-blowing  is  unmistakably  figured 
on  the  walls  of  the  tomb  of  Mastaba  of  Tih,  belonging  to  the  fifth  dynasty,  or,  say,  3900  B.  C.  This  is  the  earliest  representation  of  glass 
yet  discovered. 

g  See  Origin  of  Xations,  p.  56.  For  further  account  of  glass  and  glass-making  in  ancient  Egypt,  see  Wilkinson's  Manners  and  Custom* 
of  the  Ancient  Egyptians,  vol.  iii,  p.  58,  and  Rawlinson's  Herodftus,  2d  ed.,  vol.  ii,  p.  292.  Pellatt,  in  his  Curiosities  of  Glass-making,  gives 
beautifully  colored  lithographs  of  some  of  the  glass  found  in  Theban  tombs.  See  also  Glass  in  the  Old  JTorld,  London,  1882. 

h  The  enumeration  of  articles  put  into  the  west  pyramid  mention  "  glass  which  might  be  bended  and  not  broken  ". 

i  The  tomb  is  supposed  to  be  of  the  time  of  Osirtasan  I,  some  2500  to  3000  B.  C.  A  late  number  of  the  Saturday  Rcrific,  discussing 
the  antiquity  of  glass,  says  of  the  Beni-Hassan  inscription:  "A  much  older  picture,  which  probably  represented  the  same  manufacture,  is 
among  the  half-obliterated  scenes  in  a  chamber  of  a  tomb  of  Tih,  at  Sakkara,  and  dates  from  the  time  of  the  fifth  dynasty,  a  time  so 
remote  that  it  is  not  possible,  in  spite  of  the  assiduous  researches  of  many  Egyptologists,  to  give  it  a  date  in  years." 

1097 


60  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

Egyptian  tribute.  Coins  and  tokens  of  as  late  a  date  as  the  eleventh  century  are  in  the  Museum  of  Paris,  and  a 
basin  of  the  same  century,  and  lamps  of  the  fourteenth,  all  the  products  of  Egyptian  glass  houses,  are  still  in 
existence.  This  long-continued  practice  of  the  art  of  glass-making  in  Egypt  was  probably  due  to  the  possession 
by  the  Egyptians  of  a  great  abundance  of  the  essential  materials,  sand  and  soda,  the  latter,  which  was  of  excellent 
quality,  being  found  native  on  the  shores  of  its  lakes.  lu  a  valley  abounding  in  these  lakes  extending  northwest 
from  Memphis  the  Egyptian  expedition  of  Napoleon  I  found  remains  of  ancient  glass  furnaces.  In  this  locality,  at 
the  "  very  gates  of  the  lakes  of  Nitre",  the  priests  of  P'tah  or  Vulcan,  who  were  constantly  engaged  in  experimenting, 
placed  their  glass  factories,  and  Kawlinson  states  that  their  ruins  may  still  be  found.  These  glass  works,  however, 
were  not  confined  to  this  valley,  but  were  situated  also  in  the  Delta  and  along  the  Nile  valley.  Those  of  Alexandria, 
however,  were  the  most  famous,  especially  for  the  production  of  colored  hollow  glass  and  mosaics. 

PROCESSES  OP  EGYPTIAN  GLASS  HOUSES  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THE  GLASS. — The  processes  used  by  these 
early  glass-makers  were,  in  many  respects,  similar  to  those  of  the  present  day.  The  "batch"  was  melted  in 
crucibles,  and  the  glass-blower's  tool  pictured  on  the  Bern-Hassan  tomb  might  well  be  taken  as  a  representative  of 
those  in  use  at  Pittsburgh  to-day.  Cast  glass  appears  to  have  been  a  common  product  both  of  the  Egyptian  and 
the  Phoenician  glass  houses,  and  molds  were  also  used  both  for  blowing  and  for  pressing.  Some  of  the  hollow  ware 
gives  evidence  of  having  been  made  on  wire  molds,  and  other  specimens  indicate  that  the  glass  was  molded  around 
a  core  or  "former"  of  sand.  Pressed  glass,  however,  was  not  made  as  American  pressed  glass  is  formed,  a  die  being 
used,  into  which  the  glass  was  pressed,  or  the  die  was  pressed  into  a  mass  of  pasty  glass.  The  perfection  to  which 
these  processes  were  carried,  however,  will  not  compare  with  that  attained  to-day.  Egypt  in  the  days  of  its  best 
glass-making  could  not  produce  a  cast  plate  approaching  in  size,  purity  of  the  glass,  or  brilliancy  of  surface  those 
of  Saiut-Gobain,  nor  would  her  blown  and  pressed  ware  approach  that  of  the  United  States;  but  it  must  be 
conceded,  that  some  of  the  specimens  of  ancient  glass  that  have  been  preserved,  (a)  especially  such  as  are  evidenily  the 
result  of  careful,  patient  manipulation,  are  unsurpassed  by  the  products  of  our  modern  glass-houses,  as  they  not  only 
display  a  high  degree  of  art,  but  give  such  evidence  of  exquisite  skill  and  a  knowledge  of  the  most  refined  and 
delicate  processes  that  even  now  they  excite  unbounded  admiration.  Among  these  products  may  be  mentioned 
embossed  and  molded  reticulated  vases,  glass  mosaics,  imitation  pearls,  glass  pastes  in  several  colors,  precious 
Stones,  glass  eyes,  the  "ut'a"  of  mummies,  bottles,  etc.  This  perfection,  however,  is  only  seen  in  articles  of  luxury, 
and  indicates  a  degree  of  skill  on  the  part  of  the  workman  that  justly  entitles  him  to  the  title  of  an  artist  in  the 
highest  sense  of  the  word,  and  the  product  to  be  termed  a  work  of  art.  While  all  this  maybe  said  of  the  skill  displayed 
in  working  the  glass  when  made,  the  "metal",  as  glass  itself  is  technically  termed,  was  decidedly  inferior  to  that  of 
the  present  day.  White  glass,  as  we  understand  whiteness,  was  unknown,  and  the  clear,  white,  brilliant  flint-glass  of 
our  works  of  to-day  would  have  excited  astonishment  in  the  Egyptian  and  Phoenician  glass  houses.  Most  of  the 
specimens  that  have  come  down  to  us  from  these  ancient  glass  works  are  articles  of  luxury,  and  therefore  might 
give  rise  to  the  belief  that  most  ancient  glass  was  of  this  character;  but  such  is  not  the  fact.  Glass  of  an  inferior 
quality,  for  common  use,  was  largely  produced,  and  it  is  probable  that  it  was  much  more  extensively  employed  bj 
the  ancients  than  it  is  in  our  time,  (b)  They  had  no  porcelain,  and  were  forced  to  use  metal  vessels  or  those  of  glass 
for  many  of  the  uses  for  which  porcelain  is  now  employed. 

COMPOSITION  OF  EGYPTIAN  GLASS. — The  early  Egyptian,  as  well  as  other  early  glasses,  appears  from  its 
analysis  to  be  a  soda-lime  glass,  the  Egyptian  containing  from  70  to  72  per  cent,  of  silica,  17  to  20  per  cent,  of  soda, 
and  5  to  8.J  per  cent,  of  lime,  with  some  iron  and  alumina.  Its  composition  is  very  similar  to  plate-glass  made 
without  potash,  containing,  however,  more  impurities. 

PHOENICIAN  GLASS. — Second  to  Egypt  in  the  antiquity,  extent,  and  character  of  its  manufactures  of  glass, 
if  indeed  it  did  not  for  a  time  surpass  it  in  the  excellence  of  its  products,  was  Phoanicia,  that  wonderful  country 
which  gave  us  letters,  and  whose  nautical  skill  and  commercial  enterprise  made,  the  Mediterranean,  evep  in  Ilomer's 
time,  a  "Phoenician  lake".  The  renown  of  the  workmen  of  Phoenicia  at  an  early  date  is  evidenced  in  the  selection  of 
Hiram  of  Tyre,  the  artificer,  whom  Hiram  the  king  loaned  to  Solomon  for  the  ornamentation  of  the  Temple.  Both 
Tyre  and  Sidon  were  famous  for  their  glass,  and  the  beautiful  hollow  ware  made  by  them  was  universally  celebrated 
in  the  ancient  world.  As  already  noted,  the  river  Belus,  which  was  near  the  northern  boundary  of  Phoenicia, 
furnished  a  sand  of  excellent  quality,  which  added  largely  to  the  renown  of  Phoenician  glass.  Mr.  Nesbitt  (c)  thinks 
that  among  the  earliest  products  of  Phoenicia  in  the  art  of  glass-making  are  the  colored  beads  of  opaque  glass  in 
great  variety  of  color  and  pattern,  called  by  the  Ashantees  "Aggry"  beads.  These  beads  have  been  found  in  all 
parts  of  Europe,  in  India,  and  in  many  parts  of  Asia  and  Africa,  (d)  their  wide  dispersion,  as  well  as  the  abundance 
of  other  forms  of  glass  that  are  probably  of  Phoenician  origin,  bearing  evidence  to  the  extent  of  this  industry, 

a  These  are  chiefly  articles  of  luxury  or  personal  ornament,  and  have  been  largely  preserved  through  the  custom  of  burying  with 
the  dead  articles  which  the  deceased  regarded  highly,  or  which  were  used  constantly. 

6  Sec  Wincklenian's  Origin  de  Vart. 

c  South  Kensington  Museum  of  Art  Hand-looks  :  Glass,  by  Alex.  Nesbitt,  F.  S.  A.,  page  13. 

d  These  are  the  "Glaiu  ueidr"  (adders'  eggs)   and  the  "Gleiui  na  Droedh"  (Druids'  beads)  of  Wales  and  Ireland,   which   aro 
regarded  with  superstitions  veneration  by  the  peasantry. 
1098 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  61 

and  there  is  good  reason  to  think  that  many  of  the  glass  vases  found  in  tombs  in  the  countries  washed  by  the 
Mediterranean  are  the  products  of  Phoenician  work-shops,  rather  than  of  those  of  the  country  in  which  they  are 
found. 

CHARACTER  OF  PHCENICIAN  GLASS  AND  PROCESSES  EMPLOYED. — Speaking  of  the  character  of  Phoenician 
glass  and  the  processes  known  and  practiced,  Kenrick  says : 

They  knew  the  effect  of  an  addition  of  manganese  to  the  frit  of  sand  and  soda  in  making  glass  clearer.  They  used  the  blow-pipe,  the 
lathe,  and  the  graver,  and  cast  mirrors  of  glass.  They  must  also  have  been  acquainted  with  the  art  of  imitating  precious  stones  and 
coloring  glass  by  means  of  metallic  oxides.  The  "  pillar  of  emerald"  which  Herodotus  speaks  of  (ii,  44)  in  the  Temple  of  Hercules  at 
Tyre,  "shining  brightly  in  the  night,"  can  hardly  have  been  anything  else  than  a  hollow  cylinder  of  green  glass,  in  which,  as  at  Gades,  a 
lamp  burnt  perpetually,  (a) 

Rawlinson  says  regarding  Phoenician  glass-makers: 

What  was  the  amount  of  excellence  which  they  attained  is  uncertain;  but  the  fame  of  the  Sidonian  glass  in  early  times  would  seem 
to  imply  that  they  surpassed  the  artists  both  of  Assyria  and  Egypt.  (6) 

LATE  PHCENICIAN  GLASS  MANUFACTURE. — As  in  Egypt,  the  manufacture  of  glass  was  continued  in  Phoenicia, 
especially  at  Sidon,  far  into  the  Christian  era,  even  as  late  as  the  twelfth  century,  at  which  time  it  appears  to  have 
retained  some  of  its  ancient  reputation.  The  art  also  seems  to  have  found  a  place  in  the  industries  of  the  other 
Syrian  cities.  In  the  twelfth  century  some  Jews  of  Antioch  were  known  as  glass-makers.  In  the  fourteenth 
century  Damascus  was  the  chief  seat  of  glass-making  in  the  East,  and  as  late  as  the  seventeenth  century 
glass-making  is  mentioned  among  the  industries  of  Smyrna. 

GLASS-MAKING  IN  THE  OTHER  ANCIENT  MONARCHIES. — In  following  the  history  of  glass-making,  there  is  little  to 
note  after  leaving  the  glass  houses  of  Egypt  and  Phcenicia  until  we  reach  those  of  Rome.  The  other  great 
monarchies  do  not  appear  to  have  become  celebrated  in  this  art,  as  the  specimens  found  in  their  buried  cities  do  not 
furnish  sufficient  data  to  enable  the  formation  of  any  j  udgment  as  to  the  extent  to  which  glass-making  was  practiced, 
and  but  little  as  to  the  character  of  the  glass. 

ASSYRIAN  GLASS. — Layard  found  in  the  ruins  of  Nineveh,  which  was  destroyed  625  B.  C.,  a  number  of  specimens 
of  glass,  among  which  were  a  glass  lens  and  a  small  vase  or  bowl  of  a  transparent  green  glass  with  tlie  name  and 
title  of  the  Assyrian  monarch  Sargon  (719or  12'2  B.  C.)  This  was  blown  in  one  piece,  and  was  then  shaped  or  hollowed 
by  a  turning  machine,  and  is  regarded  as  the  earliest  specimen  of  transparent  glass.  An  earlier  vase,  with  the  name 
of  a  Khorsabad  king,  which  Layard  found,  was  stolen  or  lost.  Many  glass  vases  and  bottles  of  elegant  shape  were 
unearthed  in  the  same  mound,  some  of  which  were  colored,  some  ribbed,  and  others  otherwise  ornamented.  In  the 
palace  of  Babylon,  at  Kars,  vases  and  bottles  of  gilt  glass  of  Assyrian  origin  have  lately  been  discovered,  and  M. 
Botta  found  among  the  ruins  of  Niueveh  a  round  glass  bottle  or  vial  with  oblong  black  spots  melted  into  the  glass, 
the  earliest  specimen  of  the  tear-sown  bottles  known,  the  "gafres  de  Venine".  The  discoveries  at  Babylon,  while 
they  show  the  use  of  glass  by  its  inhabitants,  indicate  the  possession  of  but  little  skill,  the  vessels  found  being  of 
small  size,  and  the  bottles  very  frequently  misshapen.  Egypt,  however,  exported  immense  quantities  of  small 
glass  articles  to  Babylon,  and  some  of  the  glass  found  may  have  been  of  Egyptian  origin. 

GREEK  GLASS. — But  little  is  known  of  the  history  of  glass  in  Greece.  Homer  does  not  mention  it,  Aristophanes 
being  the  earliest  writer  who  refers  to  it,  and  the  excavations  by  Dr.  Scbliemanu  throw  but  little  light  on  the  subject. 
At  Mycena?  and  Troy  he  found  but  few  pieces  of  glass,  and  these  only  beads,  disks,  and  pieces  of  vitreous  paste. 
General  De  Cesuola  brought  to  light  at  Dali,  in  the  island  of  Cyprus,  a  remarkable  collection  of  Greek  glass, 
containing  1,700  pieces,  some  of  which  show  great  skill;  but  these  are  by  no  means  of  the  earliest  Greek  period,  and 
are  placed  by  him  at  later  than  100  B.  C.  Greek  art,  however,  had  considerable  influence  upon  Roman  glass. 
The  Portland  vase,  for  example,  shows  marks  of  Greek  rather  than  of  Roman  art,  though  it  is  not  certain  that  it 
is  of  Grecian  workmanship.  However,  it  is  certain  that  some  glass  was  made  in  Greece,  and  many  of  the  lovely 
Greek  vases  of  the  tombs  of  the  countries  of  the  Mediterranean  are  undoubtedly  of  this  kind  of  glass.  The  Greeks 
appear  also  to  have  used  glass  occasionally  for  purposes  of  architectural  decoration  during  the  best  period  of 
Grecian  art,  but  not  to  the  extent  that  it  was  afterward  used  at  Rome. 

CARTHAGINIAN  GLASS. — There  is  some  evidence  that  Carthage  was  the  seat  of  glass-making.  As  is  well 
known,  this  city  was  thoroughly  Tyrian,  and  the  relations  between  it  and  the  mother  city  were  very  close.  It  is 
probable  that  most  of  the  glass  used  in  the  African  colony  was  procured  in  Phcenicia.  At  the  same  time  M.  Deville, 
whose  contributions  to  the  history  of  glass  have  been  so  valuable,  found  on  a  tomb  at  Lyons  the  name  of  "  Jules 
Alexander  Africanus,  citizen  of  Carthage,  artist  in  glass".  If  this  artist  was  from  old  Carthage,  he  must  have  gone 
to  Lyons  at  least  as  early  as  the  sack  of  that  city,  146  B.  C.  Mr.  G.  Rawliuson  attributes  to  Carthage  work- 
shops many  of  the  glass  objects  found  in  the  northwest  of  Africa.  The  only  glass  yet  found  in  the  ruins  of 
Carthage  was  in  the  tomb  of  Thapsus,  but  the  tomb  is  probably  of  the  Roman-Carthage  period. 

ETRUSCAN  GLASS. — But  little  is  known  of  the  state  of  the  glass-makers'  art  in  Italy  prior  to  the  Christian  era ; 
but  there  is  evidence  from  Etruscan  tombs  that  this  people,  who  are  noted  for  their  massive  engineering  works,  were 
acquainted  with  the  use  of  glass,  and  some  very  fine  specimens  have  been  brought  to  light.  These  specimens, 
however,  are  believed  not  to  be  of  Etruscan  origin,  and  as  yet  no  distinct  evidence  of  glass  manufacture  among 
this  people  has  been  found. 

a  Kenrick :  Phoenicia,  p.  249.  6  Eawlinson's  Origin  of  Nations,  p.  57. 

1099 


62  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

INTRODUCTION  OF  GLASS-MAKING  INTO  EOME. — It  is  uncertain  when  glass-making  began  to  be  practiced  in 
Kome.  By  some  it  is  assigned  to  536  B.  C.,  but  others  place  its  introduction  as  late  as  the  time  of  Cicero,  106  B.C., 
and  state  that  the  first  works  were  near  the  Flamiuian  circus.  This  latter  statement  is  probably  not  correct 
Though  Cicero  is  the  first  Latin  author  who  refers  to  glass,  it  was  not,  however,  until  the  days  of  imperial  Rome  that 
glass-making  in  that  city  attained  any  importance,  either  by  reason  of  the  character  or.  the  extent  of  its  products. 
It  is  probable  that  a  cheap  glass  had  been  made  in  Rome  before  the  time  o  f  the  Ca3sars,  but  the  Romans  had  been 
dependent  upon  Egypt  for  the  bulk  of  their  glass,  and  with  the  wealth  and  luxury  of  the  empire  came  a  demand 
that  stimulated  its  manufacture  and  use  to  a  degree  of  development  that  has,  in  some  respects,  never  been 
excelled,  and  perhaps  never  equaled.  The  beginning  of  the  better  period  of  Roman  glass  dates  probably  from 
Augustus.  The  secrets  of  the  Egyptian  glass  houses  were  secured  by  purchase  or  by  threats,  and  the  long 
fusion,  reinelting  the  frit,  and  the  slow  cooling,  that  had  given  much  of  its  reputation  to  Egypt,  became  the  property 
of  Rome.  With  this  knowledge  came  perfection,  and  gold  and  silver  cups  gave  place  to  those  of  glass.  Strabo 
says  "that  in  Rome  such  improvement  had  been  made  in  the  coloring  and  process  of  working,  especially  in  making 
glass  of  a  crystalline  appearance,  that  you  might  buy  there  a  cup  and  dish  for  half  an  as ".  The  degree  of  skill  in 
manipulation  shown  by  the  Roman  glass-makers,  as  well  as  the  taste  exhibited  in  designing,  is  evident,  not  only  in 
the  stories  of  the  fabulous  sums  paid  for  samples  of  their  work,  but  in  the  exquisite  specimens  of  their  skill  that 
have  been  preserved,  such  as  the  Portland  and  the  Auldjo  vases  and  the  Naples  amphora.  These  are  as  beautiful 
objects  of  the  glass-makers'  art  as  have  been  produced  in  any  age  of  the  world,  and  though  at  some  of  the  late 
expositions  our  modern  glass-makers  have  shown  most  elegant  work  in  similar  style  the  work  of  the  Romans  has 
rarely  been  excelled,  (a) 

AMOUNT  AND  VARIETY  OP  THE  PRODUCTION  OP  ROMAN  GLASS  HOUSES. — If  these  vases  and  other  similar 
works  show  the  skill  attained  and  the  elegance  and  variety  of  the  products  of  the  Roman  glass  houses,  the  prodigious 
quantity  made  is  evidenced  by  the  wonderful  abundance  of  the  fragments  of  glass  found  even  now,  not  only  in  and 
around  the  ancient,  city,  but  in  all  parts  of  the  world  where  the  Roman  legions  penetrated.  Nesbitt  states  that 
in  the  winter  of  1858-'59,  during  a  residence  of  four  mouths  at  Rome,  he  saw  in  the  hands  of  dealers  fragments 
of  at  least  1,0  10  to  1,200  vessels  of  colored  glass,  for  the  most  part  the  crop  of  that  season's  discoveries.  (6) 

The  number  of  specimens  of  Roman  glass  that  have  been  found  in  Germany,  France,  Spain,  and  especially  in 
England,  is  very  great,  the  museums  of  those  countries  abounding  in  examples,  and  even  now  in  some  of  them 
it  is  no  uncommon  occurrence  to  bring  to  light  glass  of  the  Roman  period.  The  use  of  glass  in  Rome  was  not 
only  very  extensive,  but  entered  into  use  for  some  purposes  to  a  much  greater  extent  than  in  modern  times.  For 
domestic  purposes,  for  architectural  decoration,  and  for  personal  ornaments,  it  was  used  far  more  extensively  than 
with  us,  and  so  common  was  its  use,  and  so  largely  and  cheaply  was  it  produced,  that,  as  stated  by  Strabo  in  the 
passage  above  quoted,  a  cup  and  a  dish  were  sold  for  a  coin  worth  a  little  less  than  a  cent. 

LATER  GLASS-MAKING. — As  stated,  it  is  uncertain  when  the  art  was  introduced  into  Rome.  It  was  probably 
derived  from  Egypt,  but  it  did  not  reach  perfection  until  after  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era.  A  company  of 
glass-makers  established  themselves  in  the  city  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  and  were  assigned  a  street  near  the  Porta 
Capena.  In  the  succeeding  reigns  marked  improvement  was  made,  and  in  A.  D.  220  glass-making  had  become  of 
so  much  importance  that  Alexander  Severus  levied  a  tax  upon  its  manufacture  in  common  with  other  industries, 
which  lasted  until  the  time  of  Aurelian,  if  not  later.  Pellatt  thinks  that  this  tax  was  one  of  the  causes  of  the 
transfer  of  the  art  to  Venice,  (c)  but  the  transfer  is  more  correctly  ascribed  to  the  incursions  of  the  barbarians, 
and  the  dispersion  of  glass-makers  attendant  upon  them. 

BYZANTINE  GLASS. — With  the  decline  and  fall  of  the  city  of  Rome  under  the  torrent  of  the  German  and 
Hunuish  hordes  the  manufactories  fell  into  comparative  neglect  and  were  confined  to  articles  of  every-day  use. 
When  Coustantiue  the  Great,  about  A.  D.  330,  made  Byzantium  his  capital,  he  attracted  to  the  city,  with  other 
tradesmen,  the  glass-makers  of  the  world.  In  the  first  half  of  the  fifth  century  the  Emperor  Theodosius  exempted 
the  glass-makers  from  all  taxation.  In  the  commencement  of  the  eighth  century  Justinian  II  furnished  the 
Caliph  Walid  with  glass  mosaics  for  a  new  mosque  at  Damascus,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  tenth  century 
Romanus  II  sent  presents  of  glass  to  Cordova;  indeed,  so  extensive  was  its  manufacture  at  Byzantium  that 
one  of  the  gates  leading  to  the  port  took  its  name  from  the  adjacent  quarter  in  which  the  glass  houses  were 
situated.  As  has  been  noted,  many  of  the  Byzantine  artisans  came  originally  from  Rome,  and  brought  with  them 
the  traditions  and  customs  of  the  art  as  it  had  been  practiced  there.  These,  as  was  customary  in  this  early  period, 
were  handed  down  from  father  to  son.  In  the  new  Rome  of  the  East  glass-making  for  a  while  assumed  a  front  rank 
among  the  arts,  but  from  the  specimens  that  have  come  to  us  it  is  evident  the  skill  and  splendor  of  the  Roman 
period  was  not  reached,  though  for  five  hundred  years  at  least  Byzantium  secured  and  held  the  markets  of  the  world. 
This  art,  with  others,  however,  fell  under  the  adverse  influence  of  the  bigoted  emperors  of  the  East,  and  the  ancient 

a  The  reproductions  of  the  Portland  vase  in  jasper  ware  by  Wedgwood  are  well  known,  but  its  reproduction  in  glass  by  Mr.  John 
Nort4iwood,  of  Wordsley,  England,  is  not  so  noted. 

6  South  Kensington  Museum  Art  Hand-book:  Glass,  by  Alex.  Nesbitt,  F.  S.  A.,  page  19.  Those  interested  in  the  character  of  Roman 
glass  and  its  manufacture  will  find  in  this  work  a  very  complete  description. 

c  See  Curiosities  of  Glass-making,  page  8,  note. 
11 'JO 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  63 

traditions  were  wholly  lost.  The  glass  that  belongs  probably  to  the  later  period  shows  but  little  of  the  elegance  of 
form  and  the  skill  in  manipulation  of  the  early  Byzantine  and  later  Roman,  and  the  weakness  of  the  later  days  of  the 
empire  of  the  East  had  impressed  itself  upon  its  art,  and  with  its  fall  its  artisans  were  scattered,  many  seeking  the 
shores  of  the  Upper  Adriatic  to  renew  their  art  and  restore  some  of  its  lost  glory  in  the  rising  city  of  the  refugees, 
Venice. 

EARLY  GLASS-MAKING  IN  OTHER  COUNTRIES. — The  details  of  the  manufacture  of  glass  in  other  countries 
prior  to  the  Middle  Ages  are  imperfectly  known.  Pliny  states  that  the  glass  works  of  Gaul  and  Spain  were 
established  before  those  of  Eome,  and  it  may  be  possible  that  this  is  true,  as  in  the  days  of  the  later  republic  and 
early  empire  Rome  was  too  intent  on  extending  its  conquests  to  give  that  attention  to  the  arts,  other  than  those 
connected  with  war,  which  it  afterward  bestowed  upon  them.  Wherever  the  Romans  extended  their  conquests, 
however,  in  the  western  part  of  Europe,  glass  is  found  to  a  considerable  extent  in  the  ruins  of  their  occupation. 

GLASS  IN  FRANCE. — M.  Fillou  considers  that  the  manufacture  of  glass  in  France  began  at  Poitiers  (a)  in  the 
second  century,  (b)  These  factories  were  active  in  the  Roman  and  Prankish  periods,  survived  the  Norman  invasion, 
and  were  left  a  legacy  to  the  gentleman  workers  of  the  Middle  Ages.  In  many  tombs  of  the  Gallo-Roman  period 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Poitiers  large  quantities  of  vases  of  varied  form,  and  sometimes  of  delicate  and  careful 
workmanship,  are  found ;  but  the  amount  found  in  these  and  other  tombs  of  France  can  only  be  described  as  immense. 
Abbe"  Cochet  states  that  20,000  vases  were  found  buried  in  the  cemeteries  at  Terre-Nigre,  Bordeaux,  and  in  many  of 
the  tombs  glass  vials,  children's  glass  toys,  beads,  twisted  sticks,  and  tiny  glass  vases,  some  not  exceeding  half  an 
inch  high,  were  very  common,  all  indicating  the  extensive  scale  upon  which  the  industry  was  operated.  In  the 
Boulogne  museum  are  preserved  some  curious  barrel  shaped  jars  of  a  low-grade  glass  quite  green  in  color,  bearing 
the  mark  of  the  imperial  factory  at  Frontincennes,  at  Foret  Eu,  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  started  in  the 
second  century,  and  was  the  school  shop  of  all  the  Norman  factories  of  later  times.  It  is  still  a  great  factory,  and 
must  surely  be  about  the  oldest  in  the  world. 

It  is  impossible  to  give  a  suggestion  even  of  the  styles  and  character  of  early  glass  found  in  France.  As 
Christianity  advanced  and  spread  over  Gaul  the  character  of  the  glass  changed,  and  in  this  way  its  history  can 
be,  in  a  measure,  traced.  Its  use  for  church  purposes  also  became  established,  a  pope  in  the  year  197  having  ordered 
that  wine  should  not  be  consecrated,  as  heretofore,  in  a  wooden,  but  in  a  glass  vessel.  Glass  chalices  were  used  in 
the  fifth  century,  but  at  last  glass  became  so  common  that  it  was  not  deemed  costly  enough  to  celebrate  this  mystery, 
and  the  church  found  it  best  to  interdict  its  use,  though  glass  vessels  were  still  used  as  late  as  the  tenth  century. 

M.  Fillou  says  that  the  written  documents  connected  with  glass  works  begin  in  the  ninth  century.  Normandy 
was  the  first  country  where  special  privileges  were  given  to  glass-workers,  and  in  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries 
the  first  dukes  of  Normandy  bestowed  special  glass-making  privileges  on  four  families  attached  to  their  persons, 
these  families  continuing  the  manufacture  of  glass  and  enjoyed  their  privileges  up  to  the  last  century ;  and  to  this  day 
descendants  of  one  of  these  families,  the  Brussards,  are  to  be  found  as  glass-makers. 

SPAIN. — If  Pliny's  statement  quoted  in  connection  with  France  be  true,  glass  was  made  in  Spain  before  it  was 
in  Rome.  As  to  the  localities  of  these  early  woiks,  Mr.  Nesbitt  quotes  Sinobas  as  authority  that  in  the  Ibero-Roinan 
period  "  glass  was  made  chiefly  in  the  valleys  which  run  from  the  Pyrenees  to  the  cost  of  Catalonia  near  the  Ebro, 
also  in  Valencia  and  Murcia.  Ruins  of  furnaces  still  met  with  in  these  parts  are  small  in  diameter".  It  is  believed 
that  the  manufacture  continued  to  exist  under  the  Gothic  kings,  though  others  are  of  the  opinion  that  the  art  did 
not  survive  the  invasion  of  the  barbarians.  There  is  evidence  that  in  the  seventh,  tenth,  twelfth,  thirteenth,  and 
fourteenth  centuries  glass  was  made  in  various  parts  of  Spain.  An  edict  of  1324  banishes  all  glass  ovens  from 
inside  the  city  of  Barcelona,  and  after  this  date  large  quantities  of  glass  seem  to  have  been  manufactured  in 
Spain,  both  for  home  use  and  exportation. 

GERMANY. — In  Germany  also  the  influence  of  Rome  on  the  early  glass  is  marked,  and  it  is  probable  that  glass 
was  made  in  the  vicinity  of  Cologne,  Treves,  and  other  places  near  the  Rhine  during  the  Roman  occupation,  but 
many  questions  in  connection  therewith  are  as  yet  unsolved.  As  to  the  glass  of  later  times  there  is  similar 
uncertainty.  The  drinking  glasses  found  in  the  Saxon  graves  of  Germany  are  similar  to  those  found  in  France  and 
England,  but  it  is  undetermined  whether  these  were  made  in  the  countries  in  which  they  were  found,  or  are  all  the 
product  of  one  of  these  countries,  and  if  so,  which  one.  It  seems  probable,  however,  that  the  art  of  glass-making 
was  not  wholly  allowed  to  die  out  alter  the  Roman  dominion  had  passed  away.  The  early  glass  of  Germany  was 
inferior  in  color  and  ornamentation  to  that  of  its  more  southern  and  artistic  rivals,  but  it  was  superior  to  them  in 
hardness.  The  first  notice  of  glass-making  in  Germany  in  any  document  yet  published  is  that  to  the  Bishop  of 
Mainz,  elsewhere  referred  to,  in  which  the  Abbot  of  Wearmouth,  England,  wrote  about  the  middle  of  the  eighth 
century,  asking  him  to  send  him  workmen  who  "can  make  vessels  of  glass  well".  Window-glass  was  also  made 
in  Germany  at  a  very  early  period,  and  mirrors  were  made  as  early 'as  the  twelfth  century.  The  use  of  the  tin 
amalgam  is  claimed  as  a  German  invention  of  the  fourteentk  century,  and  German  authors  claim  the  invention  of 
painted  glass  for  their  workmen. 

a  Soc  GJagsin  the  Old  fTorld  (page  126),  to  which  I  am  indebted  for  much  of  the  information  about  early  French  glass. 
b  This  can  hardly  be  so  if  Pliny's  statement  istrne. 

1101 


64  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

BRITISH  ISLANDS. — Though  the  evidence  seems  to  indicate  that  glass  was  made  in  England  by  the  Eomans,  it 
is  not  as  yet  quite  fully  determined  that  such  was  the  fact.  Beads  and  glass  vessels  of  various  kinds  are  found  in 
tombs  of  the  Eoman  period,  and  fragments  of  ornamented  glass,  and  even  of  window-glass,  are  often  met  with  in  tho 
ruins  of  towns  and  villas;  but  the  similarity  in  most  instances  of  these  to  Roman  glass  lead  to  the  belief  that  they 
were  imported.  The  probabilities  are  that,  if  glass  was  made  in  England  by  the  Romans,  it  was  of  the  coarser 
kind,  the  finer  articles  being  the  product  of  other  countries.  The  remains  of  a  glass  furnace  found  at  Buckholt  in 
1860,  however,  if  it  was  of  Roman  origin,  which  is  doubtful,  would  prove  that  colored  and  ornamented  glass  was 
made  in  England  in  the  days  of  the  Roman  occupancy.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  some  authors  claim  that  glass  was 
made  in  Britain  in  pre-Roman  times;  but  if  it  was,  it  must  have  been  of  the  coarsest  and  most  common  kinds.  In 
Kentish  graves,  dating  from  about  the  time  of  the  conversion  of  the  Saxons  to  Christianity,  many  vessels  of  glass, 
mostly  the  peculiar  elongated  tumblers,  are  found,  which  Nesbitt  thinks  there  is  some  reason  to  believe  were  made 
in  England,  though  they  resemble  greatly  French  and  German  drinking  vessels.  At  what  time  the  manufacture  of 
glass  became  firmly  established  in  Britain  is  not  known.  In  A.  D.  G70  an  attempt  was  made  to  establish  a  glass 
factory  at  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  but  it  was  a  failure,  and  eigbt  hundred  years  passed  before  the  attempt  was  renewed 
but  in  A.  D.  675,  when  Benedict  made  glass  for  his  monastery  at  Wearmouth,  he  imported  workmen  from  France,  who 
were  probably  skilled  in  making  cast,  not  blown,  glass  for  the  windows,  and  eighty  years  later  the  Abbot  of 
Wearmouth  asked  the  Bishop  of  Mainz,  in  Germany,  to  send  him  a  maker  of  glass  vessels.  For  some  centuries  from 
this  glass-making  seemed  to  languish  in  England. 

Little  ancient  glass  is  found  in  Scotland.  Rome  had  but  little  foothold  on  its  shores,  and  but  few  fragments  of 
Roman  glass  have  been  found.  Even  the  Druids  left  but  few  of  their  paste  beads  to  be  preserved  in  tombs.  No 
record  of  glass-making  in  this  country  exists  until  1620. 

In  Ireland  there  are  more  evidences  of  early  glass-making  than  in  Scotland.  The  art  seems  to  have  been 
practiced  at  an  early  period,  and  mosaic  glass  dating  as  early  as  1112  exists.  Some  chalices  are  also  in  the 
inaseum  of  the  Irish  Academy  that  are  supposed  to  date  from  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries. 

PERSIA,  that  ruled  Egypt  so  long,  carried  away  captive  its  most  skilled  workmen  and  artists  and  employed 
them  in  building  and  decorating  their  famous  cities,  Persepolis  and  Susa,  and  among  the  ruins  of  these  cities  to  this 
day  are  found  fragments  of  mosaics  and  other  glass,  evidently  the  work  of  these  Egyptian  captives.  At  least  400 
B.  C.  the  Persians  made  glass,  as  the  Athenian  ambassadors  to  Ecbatana  drank  "  wine  out  of  glass  and  golden 
cups",  and  the  remarkable  cup  of  Chosroes  I  (A.  D.  532)  proves  that  the  art  was  practiced  long  into  the  Christian 
era;  and  even  to  the  present  glass  works  are  in  operation. 

CHINA. — The  same  mistiness  that  surrounds  everything  in  connection  with  the  arts  of  this  mysterious  empire 
attaches  to  glass-making.  There  seems  some  reason  to  believe  that  glass  was  made  in  this  country  before  the 
Christian  era,  though  it  does  not  appear  to  have  attained  much  importance.  The  ancient  books  state  that  mirrors 
were  made  from  pebbles  and  materials  obtained  from  the  sea  and  reduced  to  ashes,  which  is  a  fair  description  of 
glass-making.  A  factory  still  in  existence  in  Shan-tung  is  believed  to  date  as  far  back  as  the  third  century. 

INDIA — There  are  few  traces  of  the  manufacture  of  glass  in  India.  The  remark  of  Pliny  that  Indian  glass 
was  the  finest,  being  made  from  crystal,  is  now  believed  to  refer  to  Chinese  glass,  as  no  examples  of  early  glass  of 
undoubtedly  Indian  origin  have  yet  been  found. 


CHAPTER  X.— MODERN  GLASS. 


MODERN  GLASS-MAKING  DATES  FROM  VENICE. — We  have  dated  the  history  of  glass-making  from  the  workshops 
of  Venice  and  its  island  of  Murano.  It  was  in  the  glass-houses  of  that  "  gentile  island",  (a)  as  Howell  terms  it,  that 
the  art  that  produced  the  beautiful  and  exquisite  forms  of  Roman  glass  was  revived,  and  from  its  "  whole  street  of 
glass  furnaces"  came  the  knowledge  and  inspiration  as  well  as  many  of  the  workmen  who  carried  its  manufacture 
into  many  of  the  countries  of  Europe,  and  laid  in  these  countries  the  foundations  of  the  glass  industry  that  has 
continued  until  the  present  time. 

Venetian  glass  did  not,  however,  at  once  attain  the  full  measure  of  its  reputation.  For  many  years  after  the 
establishment  of  the  industry  in  that  city  Egyptian,  Phoenician,  Roman,  and  Byzantine  glass  were  those  of  most 
repute  in  the  markets  of  the  world,  while  the  earlier  products  of  the  Venetian  glass  houses  were  of  a  greatly 
different  character  from  those  that  in  the  sixteenth  century  gave  Venice  such  renown. 

a  See  Howell's  Familiar  Letters.     First  letter  dated  Venice,  May  20,  1621. 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  65 

INFLUENCE  OF  BARBARIANS  UPON  GLASS-MAKING. — Glass-making,  with  all  other  arts,  felt  the  influence  of 
the  barbarian  deluge  and  that  strange  stupor  that  marks  the  centuries  from  the  close  of  the  fifth  to  the  close  of 
the  eleventh.  The  demand  for  glass  for  other  than  the  most  common  uses  quite  ceased  when  the  barbarians 
conquered  Rome  and  appropriated  its  wealth.  The  glass  works  of  the  imperial  city  were  broken  up  and  the 
workmen,  for  the  most  part,  slain  or  scattered,  while  those  that  continued  the  art,  from  lack  of  opportunity,  soon 
lost  their  cunning.  Only  in  one  branch  did  any  of  the  former  glory  remain:  the  manufacture  of  mosaics  and 
painted  glass  for  windows.  Here,  as  in  so  many  of  the  arts,  the  church  saved  glass-making  from  perishing  from 
the  earth.  • 

REVIVAL  OF  ART  INFLUENCED  GLASS-MAKING. — Such  was  the  condition  of  glass  manufacture  when  the  works 
of  Venice  began  to  assume  importance;  but  as  the  eleventh  century  drew  to  a  close  the  great  cities  of  Germany  and 
*Italy,  with  their  opportunities  for  commerce  and  the  arts,  arose,  and  among  them  the  republic  city  of  Venice,  and 
the  artisans  in  glass  of  reputation  were  attracted  to  this  rising  city  and  shared  in  the  great  art  revival  of  the  Italian 
Renaissance.  The  false  and  debasing  canons  of  the  art  of  the  dark  ages  were  cast  aside,  and  from  the  study  of 
the  pure  and  simple  antique  came  those  great  works  in  modern  glass  that  are  regarded  as  masterpieces  in  form 
and  color. 

EARLY  VENETIAN  GLASS-MAKING. — It  is  not  known  when  glass  began  to  be  manufactured  in  Venice.  The 
Venetians  place  the  date  as  early  as  the  fifth  century,  but  there  is  no  evidence  of  its  existence  earlier  than  the 
eleventh,  with  the  exception  of  certain  mosaics  that  may  be  of  Byzantine  origin.  In  the  thirteenth  century  the  art 
had  grown  to  considerable  magnitude,  and  about  the  middle  of  this  century  codes  of  rules  for  regulating  glass- 
workers  were  drawn  up.  In  1291  the  Council  of  Ten,  to  guard  against  fire,  ordered  that  the  glass  furnaces  in  the 
Mty  should  be  demolished,  but  that  they  must  be  reconstructed  in  the  district  of  Venice.  This  led  to  the 
establishment  of  works  at  Murano.  This  edict  was  afterward  modified  so  as  to  allow  the  manufactories  of  small 
wares  to  remain,  provided  th^re  were  fifteen  paces  left  between  the  works.  In  1275  the  council  prohibited  the 
exportation  of  glass-making  material,  and  in  1295  renewed  it ;  in  addition,  it  levied  a  heavy  fine  upon  all  glass- 
makers  who  should  leave  Venice  to  practice  their  art  in  other  cities,  and  in  1474  death  was  made  the  penalty.  At 
this  time  the  fame  of  Venetian  glass  had  become  so  great  that  extraordinary  efforts  were  made  to  induce  workmen 
to  leave  Venice  and  establish  its  manufacture  hi  other  countries,  and  England,  Spain,  and  Flanders  all  endeavored 
to  secure  workmen  to  build  up  their  glass  works.  This  was  the  occasion  of  the  edicts  of  the  great  council  to  which 
we  have  referred,  (a)  In  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  glass-making  reached  its  highest  development  in 
Venice,  from  which  time  it  began  to  decline,  and  in  the  eighteenth  century  England,  France,  and  Bohemia  began 
to  compete  successfully  with  Murano,  interrupting  its  trade,  and  the  works  became  idle,  the. glory  of  Venetian 
glass  departed,  and  only  beads  and  common  ware  came  from  the  shops  that  for  five  centuries  had  given  an 
incontestable  superiority  to  Murano.  This  lethargy  remained  until  the  art  was  recently  revived  through  the  efforts 
of  Dr.  Salviati. 

EXTENT  OF  THE  INDUSTRY  AT  VENICE. — The  extent  to  which  this  ait  was  practiced  in  Venice  can  be  inferred 
from  the  fact  that  in  the  time  of  its  prosperity  8,000  men  were  regularly  employed,  and  the  glass  houses  extended  in  an 
unbroken  line  for  a  mile  along  one  of  the  streets  of  Murano.  The  manufacture  was  not  carried  on,  as  HOW,  in  large 
establishments,  but  by  artisans  working  on  a  small  scale,  which  may  account  for  the  great  variety  of  form.  For 
the  most  part,  the  glass,  with  the  aid  of  the  pincette,  was  shaped  before  the  blow-pipe,  and  the  forms  of  the  product 
were  vessels,  window-glass  and  mosaics,  optical  glass,  mirrors,  and  beads. 

CONDITION  AND  RESTRICTION  OF  WORKMEN.— Mr.  Jarves,  in  his  admirable  paper  in  Harpers  Magazine  on 
Venetian  glass,  in  speaking  of  the  causes  that  produced  such  a  body  of  workmen  and  maintained  the  superiority 
of  its  glass  through  so  many  centuries,  says : 

As  early  as  1500  there  were  twenty-four  glass  houses  at  work  at  Murano,  each  having  more  or  less  its  speci  alty.  The  furnaces  in  general 
were  small.  During  the  period  of  its  greatest  prosperity  (the  fifteenth,  sixteenth,  and  seventeenth  centuries)  Murano  counted  30,000 
inhabitants,  now  reduced  to  about  5,000.  Each  owner  of  a  factory  was  obliged  to  contribute  annually  a  certain  sum  into  a  common  fund 
for  tho  succor  ot  me  unfortunate  of  their  own  class,  poor  and  infirm  artisans,  or  those  out  of  employment,  and  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
schools  of  inventive  design.  No  apprentice  could  be  admitted  as  a  master-workman  before  passing  a  strict  examination  in  his  art  and 
proving  his  skill  in  the  manufacture  of  certain  objects.  The  candidate  was  elected  into  the  body  of  masters  by  their  secret  ballots.  Each 
factory  was  subject  to  inspection,  night  or  day,  by  certain  officers,  whose  duty  was  to  see  that  the  work  was  regular  according  to  the  statutes, 
to  note  the  quantity  and  quality  of  the  objects,  and  that  no  glass  in  fragments  or  cnllet  be  exported.  Proprietors  and  master-workmen 
of  tea  years'  experience,  if  they  honorably  failed  and  had  no  other  means  of  subsistence,  were  entitled  to  pensions  of  70  ducats  annually. 
When  there  were  more  master-workmen  than  could  be  profitably  employed,  it  was  forbidden  to  increase  their  number  from  the  apprentices 
until  there  was  a  real  call  for  new  hands.  Whoever  became  a  member  of  the  guild  was  obliged  to  take  an  oath  of  fidelity.  No  one  who 
had  not  a  regular  discharge  from  his  employer  could  be  received  into  the  service  of  another,  and  every  proprietor  was  obliged  to  seal  hia 
cases  with  his  own  trade-mark.  It  was  forbidden  to  employ  strangers  uuder  any  pretense.  If  there  were  not  enough  of  the  Muraiiese  at 
times  for  labor,  or  to  exercise  the  art,  Venetians  only  might  have  the  privilege,  but  they  must  be  duly  qualified.  No  employer  could  hire 
a  master-workman  who  was  in  debt  to  another  of  the  guild.  Such  were  some  of  the  regulations  to  keep  the  art  in  a  high  state  of 
efficiency,  and  which  for  more  than  five  centuries  gave  it  an  incontestable  superiority  in  its  special  aim  over  other  establishments  in 
Europe.  In  fine,  Murano  became  as  artistically  famous  for  its  glass  as  Urbino,  Pesaro,  Gnbbio,  or  Chafiagiola  at  the  same  time  for 
majolica,  but  with  far  greater  commercial  development. 

alt  is  impossible  to  follow  the  history  of  glass-making  at  Venice.  An  admirable  account  will  be  found  in  Nesbitt's  "Glass"  in  the 
South  Kensington  Art  Sand-book. 

1103 


66  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

GLASS  IN  THE  DARK  AGES. — As  has  already  been  stated,  the  barbarian  invasions  and  the  destruction  or 
decadence  of  the  Roman  power  brought  with  it  a  decline  in  the  art  of  making  glass.  The  conquerors  of  Rome  had 
but  little  in  common  with  the  taste  and  refinement  that  have  sought  and  preserved  as  precious  treasures  the  dainty 
and  exquisite  gems  of  the  glass-maker's  art  of  which  so  many  evidences  remain,  and  under  their  early  dominion  it 
seems  probable  that  only  the  commoner  and  more  useful  forms  of  glass  were  produced.  Thus  it  would  appear  that 
while  glass-making  in  most  of  its  higher  and  artistic  processes  was  a  lost  art  for  some  centuries,  it  was  not  wholly 
forgotten,  but  in  all  countries  where  Roman  enterprise  had  established  glass  houses  the  art  was  preserved.  It 
seems  certain  that  France,  Germany,  Spain,  and  possibly  England,  made  glass  during  the  period  of  its  decadence, 
and  thus  kept  alive  the  practice  of  the  art  that  was  afterward,  under  the  influence  and  example  of  Venice  and 
by  the  art  of  its  workmen,  to  grow  in  most  of  these  countries  into  the  glass  works  of  to-day. 

FRANCE. — It  is  reasonably  certain  that  the  manufacture  of  glass  has  not  been  wholly  lost  in  France  at  any  time 
since  the  days  of  Pliny  and  the  Romans.  The  glass  works  at  Poitiers,  which  were  of  so  much  importance,  and 
which,  if  the  evidence  of  the  tombs  in  its  neighborhood  is  to  be  taken,  produced  such  enormous  amounts  of  glass 
during  the  Roman  period,  seem  to  have  maintained  a  continued  existence  and  to  have  been  of  no  little  account 
even  into  the  eighteenth  century,  when  the  industry  declined  under  the  competition  of  the  glass  houses  of  La 
Rochelle  and  Nantes.  There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  the  works  of  Poitiers  felt  the  same  adverse  influences  as  fell 
upon  those  of  all  Europe,  and  also  that  the  new  skill  and  the  advance  in  its  art  that  marked  the  close  of  the 
sixteenth  century  came  from  Venice.  In  1572  one  Salviati,  "  gentilhomine  de  Murano,"  came  to  Poitiers  to  practice 
his  art,  and  was  undoubtedly  accompanied  or  followed  by  others.  Their  presence  is  evidenced  in  the  efforts  to 
produce  fine  and  ornamented  wares,  and  enameled  glass,  pretty  drinkiug-cups,  vases,  and  bottles,  both  white  and 
colored,  were  some  of  the  products  of  the  period  that  foil  owed  the  coming  of  these  gentlemen  of  Murano.  Glass-making, 
however,  was  by  no  means  confined  to  the  neighborhood  of  Poitiers,  as  works  were  erected  at  Provence  as  early  as 
the  thirteenth  century,  and  attained  considerable  skill  in  the  sixteenth.  Large  quantities  of  glass  were  made  in 
Normandy  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  the  le  Valliant  family,  upon  whose  ancestors  Charles  VIII,  in  1490,  conferred 
the  "  privileges  de  verrerie",  have  continued  its  manufacture  up  to  the  present  century.  In  the  Boulogne  museum 
are  some  barrel-shaped  jars  from  the  imperial  factory  of  Froutincennes,  which  is  supposed  to  date  to  the  second 
century,  and  is  still  a  great  factory.  In  1598  Henry  IV  permitted  two  "  geutilshomme  verriers  ",  natives  of  Mantua, 
to  establish  themselves  at  Rouen,  in  order  to  make  "verres  de  cristal,  verres  dore~s,  emaulx,  et  autres  ouvrages  qui 
se  font  a  Venise",  and  in  1603  the  same  king  established  works  at  Paris  and  Xevers.  Colbert,  the  great  finance 
minister  of  France,  who  did  so  much  for  French  industry,  wrote  to  his  ambassador  at  Venice  in  1664  requesting 
him  to  procure  workmen  for  a  glass  house;  but  the  story  runs  that  the  ambassador  replied  if  he  did  so  he  ran  the 
risk  of  being  thrown  into  the  sea.  In  1665,  however,  eighteen  Venetian  glass-makers  were  obtained,  and  the 
manufacture  of  mirrors  was  begun  at  Pans.  Colbert  united  this  with  another  existing  at  Tour-la-ville,  near 
Cherbourg,  and  in  1693  the  united  works  were  transferred  to  Saint-Gobaiu,  where  the  manufacture  is  still  carried 
on  upon  a  very  large  scale.  It  was  about  this  date  also  that  Thevart  rediscovered  the  method  of  casting  plate-glass, 
and  succeeded  in  making  plates  84  by  50  inches. 

For  a  time  in  the  eighteenth  century  France  seems  to  have  lost  the  art  of  making  "vases  de  verre",  as  in  1759 
the  Academy  of  Sciences  offered  a  prize  for  the  best  essay  on  the  means  by  which  the  art  could  be  revived.  If  this 
was  true,  France  has  abundantly  recovered  its  prestige,  and  Baccarat  wares  are  to-day  the  rival  of  any.  France  seems 
also  for  a  while  to  have  been  behind  its  neighbors  in  the  manufacture  of  blown  window-glass.  Even  in  the  beginning 
of  the  eighteenth  century  the  French  imported  from  Germany  and  Bohemia  whatever  window-glass  of  the  better 
sor'  they  used.  In  1740  an  association  for  the  making  of  French  cylindrical  or  broad  window-glass  was  formed  by 
Drtxtiuvaux,  workmen  being  drawn  from  Germany,  and  a  manufactory  was  established  at  Lettenbach  (Saint-Quirin), 
which  attained  good  repute,  and  became  later  the  parent  factory  of  the  modern  French,  Belgian,  and  some  English 
p  ate-glass  works. 

A  late  German  writer,  from  whom  the  above  statement  is  derived,  states  also  regarding  the  influence  of 
Germany  on  French  glass-making : 

By  holding  closely  together,  and  by  steadily  and  firmly  repelling  French  apprentices,  the  workmen  who  had  been  attracted  frou 
Germany  kept  off  the  competition  of  the  natives  of  the  country  during  a  long  time,  and,  as  a  consequence,  even  at  the  present  day , 
among  the  French  artisans  in  glass  a  very  great  majority  hear  German  names,  while  German  words  and  phrases  are  very  numerous  among 
the  technical  terms  of  the  art. 

The  first  lead-flint  glass  melted  in  France  was  by  Lambert,  at  Saint-Cloud,  in  1784.  In  1790  the  crystal 
manufactory  of  Muensthal,  or  Saint-Louis,  was  founded.  In  1823  d'Artigues  bought  the  glass  manufactory  of 
Saint- Anne,  and  changed  it  into  the  world-famous  "  Crystallerio  de  Baccarat". 

SPAIN. — In  this  country,  as  in  France  and  Germany,  glass  was  made  in  the  Roman  period,  and  it  is  probable 
that  its  manufacture  did  not  wholly  cease  in  the  dark  ages,  though  this  is  not  as  well  settled  as  in  the  case  of 
France.  Seflor  Juan  F.  Riano  (I  quote  from  Nesbitt),  in  the  introduction  to  the  catalogue  of  art  objects  of  Spanish 
production  in  the  South  Kensington  museum,  has  supplied  much  information  with  regard  to  the  later  history  ot 
Spanish  glass  making.  He  commences  the  modern  history  of  the  art  in  Spain  by  stating  that  an  Arab  author  of 

1104 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  67 

the  thirteenth  century  says  that  Mercia  was  renowned  for  the  fabrication  of  glass  and  pottery,  of  both  which 
materials  large  vases  of  the  most  exquisite  and  elegant  shapes  were  made  by  the  Moors;  and  that  "Almeriawas 
also  famous  for  the  fabrication  of  all  sorts  of  vases  and  utensils,  whether  of  iron,  copper,  or  glass".  The  making 
of  glass  at  Barcelona  was  probably  of  equal,  if  not  of  greater  antiquity. 

In  a  municipal  edict  of  1324  is  a  prohibition  that  the  glass  ovens  should  be  inside  the  city.  In  1455  permission 
was  granted  to  the  "vidrieros"  to  form  a  corporation  under  the  patronage  of  Saint-Bernardino,  and  from  this 
period  some  of  the  members  figure  as  holding  municipal  charges.  Jeronimo  Paulo,  who  wrote  in  1491  a  description 
in  Latin  of  the  most  remarkable  things  at  Barcelona,  says  "  they  also  send  to  Eome  and  other  places  many  glass 
vessels  of  different  sorts  and  kinds,  which  may  well  compete  with  those  of  Venice".  Marineus  Siculus,  who  writes 
at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  says  ''that  the  best  glass  made  in  Spain  is  that  of  Barcelona";  and 
Caspar  Baueiros,  in  his  Chronographia,  published  at  Coimbra  in  1562,  mentions  that  excellent  glass  was  made  at 
Barcelona,  almost  equal  to  the  Venetian.  From  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  there  are  several  allusions 
to  the  merit  of  the  Barcelona  glass,  and  to  the  vast  quantity  which  was  exported. 

Glass  was  also  made  at  Cadalso,  in  the  province  of  Toledo,  as  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century ; 
other  works  were  at  Torre  de  Esteban,  Hambroz,  in  1680,  which  gave  the  most  brilliant  results,  and  at  Eecuenco, 
in  the  province  of  Cuenca,  in  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  in  1722;  also  in  the  seventeenth  century 
at  Valdemaquada,  in  the  province  of  Avilo.  In  a  royal  schedule,  dated  1680,  stating  the  prices  at  which  things 
were  to  be  sold  in  Madrid,  glass  made  at  Barcelona,  Valdemaquada,  and  Villafranca  in  imitation  of  the  Venetian 
is  mentioned;  and  the  glass  of  Valdemaquada  was  sold  for  a  higher  price  than  that  made  at  the  other  places. 
There  was  also  an  important  manufactory  at  La  Granja,  famous  for  fine  chandeliers,  mirrors,  and  engraved  glass. 

What  we  have  of  the  products  of  these  factories  scarcely  seems  to  support  the  assertion  that  the  glass  rivaled 
Venetian,  though  several  pieces  in  the  collection  formed  by  Seuor  Eiano  closely  resemble  the  products  of  Mnrano. 
One  reason  of  the  success  of  so  many  factories  making  glass  of  the  same  character  as  Venetian,  and  of  the  failures 
of  England,  was,  no  doubt,  that  the  Spanish,  in  the  interior  of  a  country  ill  provided  with  the  means  for  the  transport 
of  such  an  article,  did  not  sustain  so  severe  a  competition  as  the  English  factories. 

Spain  is  not  a  country  very  productive  of  fuel,  and  doubtless  when  the  glass  houses  had  burned  up  the  wood  in 
their  neighborhood  the  manufacture  ceased  to  be  profitable.  It  would  seem  that,  except  near  the  coast,  the  glass 
must  have  been  made  with  potash  obtained  from  the  lees  of  wine  or  from  burnt  wood,  as  the  transport  of  soda, 
either  from  Egypt  or  from  the  coast,  o a  which  it  could  be  produced  from  seaweed,  would  have  been  extremely  costly. 
At  Barcelona  and  other  places  on  or  near  the  coast  soda  may,  of  course,  have  been  used. 

GERMANY. — Though  the  specimens  found  in  the  neighborhood  of  Cologne,  Treves,  and  other  places  bordering 
on  or  near  the  Ehine  indicate  that  glass  was  made  during  the  Eoman  occupation,  it  is  not  clear  that  it  continued 
to  be  manufactured  after  this  time.  From  the  tenth  to  the  fourteenth  century,  however^it  is  certain  that  window- 
glass  was  made  in  considerable  quantities,  and  the  letter  of  Cuthbert,  Abbot  of  Wearmouth,  to  Lullo,  Bishop 
of  Mainz,  about  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century,  would  indicate  that  glass  vessels  were  made  as  early  as  this. 
Vessels  of  the  sixteenth  century,  however,  are  quite  common,  among  them  the  "wiederkoms",  some  of  which  are 
twenty  inches  high,  the  oldest  of  which  the  date  can  be  ascertained  being  1553.  From  the  wood-cuts  in  Agricola's 
De  Re  Metallica,  published  in  1556,  we  may  gather  some  idea  as  to  the  products  of  German  glass  houses  at  that 
time,  which  seem  to  be  vases,  bottles,  and  retorts,  but  he  does  not  indicate  that  any  fine  glassware  was  made 
in  Germany.  About  the  year  1600  glass  was  extensively  made  in  Bohemia  and  other  parts  of  Germany,  and  the 
fine  crystal  glass  of  Bohemia  may  date  from  this  time.  In  1609  glass-cutting  was  practiced,  and  some  of  the  work 
in  this  century  was  said  to  be  of  remarkable  fineness  and  delicacy.  The  invention  of  etching  with  fluoric  acid  is 
ascribed  to  Henry  Schwanhard  in  1670.  The  Electoral  glass  works,  on  the  Isle  of  Peacocks,  near  Potsdam,  was 
established  in  the  eighteenth  century,  and,  under  Kuuckel's  management,  gained  great  celebrity  for  its  gold  ruby. 
Then,  under  the  ministry  of  Danckemiann,  French  workmen  were  drawn  into  the  country,  and  under  Moor's 
management  the  manufacture  for  blown  plate-glass  was  established  in  1695  at  Neustadt-on-the-Dosse,  whose 
workmen,  when,  after  Danckelmanu's  overthrow,  ifeustadt  for  a  time  fell  into  stagnation,  founded,  at  the  instigation 
of  the  elector,  Lothar  Franz,  the  mirror  manufacture  at  Lohr-on-the-Mayn,  which  in  course  of  time  attained  to 
great  distinction.  Similar  manufactures  were  soon  afterward  established  at  Schleichach,  near  Wurtzburg;  at 
Fahrafeld,  near  Vienna ;  at  Grnenplan,  near  Hanoverian  Miiideu;  at  Senftenberg,  in  the  elect  or  ate  of  Saxony;  and 
at  Alten-Kronau,  in  Hesse.  Finally,  in  1710,  through  the  influence  of  Count  Eechtskron,  mirror  or  plate-glass  casting 
\vas  introduced  from  France,  and  a  mirror  foundery  was  established  after  the  model  of  Saint-Gobain  at  Xeuhaus 
with  French  workmen,  which,  though  protected  in  every  way  and  defended  by  prohibitive  regulations,  in  1728  passed 
over  to  the  Austrian  state.  In  fact,  plate-glass  casting  did  not  prosper  in  the  beginning  any  better  in  Germany 
than  in  France.  As  little  successful,  too,  were  the  attempts  in  various  places  made  to  obtain  useful  flint-glass  for 
optical  purposes,  and  it  was  not  until  1806  that  Utzschueider,  at  Benedictbeureu,  produced  such  an  article  of  the 
kind  as  answered  the  ends  for  which  it  was  required. 

BOHEMIA. — It  was  in  Bohemia  that  Venetian  glass  first  found  a  successful  rival,  this  rivalry  being  at  first 
manifest  in  the  quality  of  the  glass  itself.  Venetian  glass  had  never  been  noted  for  the  purity  of  the  metal,  and 
70  i\r  M  1105 


f>8  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

witli  their  purer  materials  the  Bohemians  were  able  to  produce  a  much  whiter  glass  than  the  Venetians  could  witr 
their  somewhat  impure  sand  and  soda  from  seaweed.  The  Bohemian  crystal,  therefore,  soon  became  noted,  and  for 
centuries  was  held  in  high  estimation,  and  only  lost  its  pre-eminence  with  the  invention  of  English  flint.  But  it 
was  not  alone  in  the  purity  of  its  glass  that  Bohemia  became  the  successful  rival  of  Venice,  for  in  the  beginning  of 
the  seventeenth  century  the  decoration  of  glass  by  engraving,  probably  a  Bohemian  invention,  which  soon  became 
the  fashion,  sadly  interfered  with  the  products  of  the  Italian  city.  The  cut-glass  was  especially  noted,  and  so  sharp 
and  injurious  did  the  competition  become  that  one  Briati,  a  glass-maker  of  Murano,  determined  to  go  to  Bohemia 
and  learn  the  secret,  and  accordingly  worked  for  three  years  in  a  Bohemian  glass  house  as  a  porter,  returning 
to  Venice  in  1739  to  obtain  a  patent  for  ten  years  for  the  production  of  glass  after  the  fashion  of  Bohemia.  The 
excellent  character  of  Bohemian  glass  is  noticeable  to  this  day,  and  the  skill  of  the  workmen  who  robbed  Venice 
of  its  glory  has  not  departed  from  the  forests  of  Bohemia. 

THE  Low  COUNTRIES. — But  little  is  known  of  the  glass  industry  in  the  Low  Countries  until  a  very  recent 
period,  though  it  is  positive  that  glass  was  made  in  Flanders  as  early  as  the  fourteenth  century.  "  Crystal  of 
Antwerp  "  is  mentioned  in  1509,  and  in  1563  glass  is  mentioned  as  among  the  articles  of  export  from  Antwei'p  to 
England.  In  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century  several  Murauese  glass-workers  obtained  privileges  for 
making  glass,  and  in  1642  John  Savonetti  was  permitted  to  establish  glass-making  at  Brussels  with  an  absolute 
prohibition  of  all  imports.  In  the  sixteenth  or  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  were  produced  the  glasses  on 
which  are  to  be  seen  the  paintings  of  John  Steen,  2/erburg,  and  others.  In  comparatively  modern  times  the  *vorks 
of  Belgium  have  been  quite  noted,  at  one  time  the  product  of  vases  and  such  ware  surpassing  the  French.  Ib  Is 
stated  that  the  celebrated  Baccarat  works  were  established  by  Belgian  workmen. 

BRITISH  ISLANDS. — As  has  already  been  noted,  there  is  considerable  doubt  as  to  the  continued  existence  of 
the  English  glass  works  after  the  period  of  Eoman  occupancy,  and  it  was  not  until  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth 
century  that  they  awoke  from  their  period  of  actual  or  comparative  idleness.  In  1447  John  Prudde,  of  Westminster, 
covenanted  to  "  use  no  glasse  of  England  "  in  executing  the  windows  of  the  Beauchamp  chapel  at  "Warwick,  which 
would  indicate  that  glass  was  made  in  England  at  that  time.  The  vast  palace  of  Henry  VIII  that  formed  one  of 
the  attractions  of  the  Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold  in  1520  was  built  of  wood  and  glass.  The  glass-maker's  art, 
however,  did  not  advance  rapidly,  for,  in  1557,  according  to  quaint  Thomas  Charnock : 

As  for  glass- makers,  they  be  scant  in  the  land; 

Yet  one  there  is,  as  I  do  understand, 

And  in  Sussex  is  now  his  habitation ; 

At  Chiddingsfold  he  works  of  his  occupation. 

In  1589  George  Longe  petitioned  for  a  patent,  in  which  he  stated  that  there  were  fifteen  glass  houses  in 
England.  These  he  propoged  to  reduce  to  two  and  rebuild  the  balance  in  Ireland,  whereby  the'wood  of  England 
would  be  saved  and  that  of  Ireland  wasted.  In  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth  some  persecuted  Protestants  from 
France  came  to  Newcastle  and  worked  at  their  trade  of  glass-making  at  the  Close  Gate,  and  afterward  went  to 
Tyne.  In  1662,  Fuller  states  that  "coarse  glass-making  was,  in  this  county  (Sussex),  of  great  antiquity",  and 
another,  writing  of  the  manufacture  of -glass  in  that  county,  says : 

Neither  can  we  match  the  pnrity  of  Venice,  and  yet  many  green  ones  are  blown  in  Sussex  profitable  to  the  makers  and  convenient 
to  the  users  thereof. 

INFLUENCE  OF  VENICE  ON  ENGLAND. — As  the  use  of  glass  began  to  increase  in  England  adventurers  from 
Venice  and  other  portions  of  the  continent  sought  to  advance  their  fortunes  by  bringing  schemes  for  making  glass 
of  superior  quality  before  the  English  government.  In  1550  eight  Muranese  glass-makers,  imprisoned  in  London, 
who  had  been  induced  to  go  there  by  offers  of  no  small  sums  of  money,  and  who  had  heard  of  the  edicts  of  the 
Council  of  Ten,  petitioned  the  council  to  be  allowed  to  work  out  the  money  received.  On  June  13,  1550,  the 
council,  to  gratify  the  king,  decided  to  allow  this.  For  the  next  few  years  evidences  of  the  influence  of  Venetian 
workmen  multiply,  and  the  art  began  to  assume  importance.  Early  in  the  seventeenth  century  sea-coal  began  to 
be  used.  Mansel  secured  the  patents  for  its  use  in  1616,  and  set  to  work  making  both  window-glass  and  glass 
vessels  of  various  kinds,  having  brought  a  Venetian  to  aid  him.  About  this  time  one  of  the  most  important 
advances  or  discoveries  in  modern  glass-making,  and  one  of  the  very  few  real  discoveries  of  modern  time,  was 
achieved  (the  manufacture  of  lead  flint),  and  the  English  workman  had  this  beautiful  and  brilliant  glass  to  stimulate 
his  exertions.  In  1677  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  made  at  Lambeth  "  huge  vases",  "clear,  ponderous,  and  thick 
as  crystal,"  as  well  as  looking-glass  plates  and  windows  for  coaches.  In  1673,  at  the  ".Italian  glass  house  at 
Greenwich  ",  "  glass  was  blown  of  finer  metal  than  that  of  Murano  at  Venice."  The  revocation  of  the  edict  at 
Nantes  in  1685  drew  a  number  of  glass-workers  to  England,  and  the  manufacture  continued  to  improve,  until,  in 
1736,  Dr.  Pococke  considered  English  glass  to  be  superior  to  that  of  Bohemia,  and  only  inferior  to  that  of  the  royal 
Prussian  glass  houses.  From  this  time  the  manufacture  of  glass  was  of  growing  importance,  and  the  details  need 
not  be  given. 

RUSSIA. — In  Russia  the  glass  industry  first  obtained  a  firm  footing  in  the  course  of  the  seventeenth  and 

eighteenth  centuries,  having  been  introduced  by  German  and  Bohemian  workmen.    As  regards  the  details  of  its 
1106 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  69 

introduction  and  establishment,  slight  information  has  ever  reached  the  public.  We  have  historical  mention  of  a 
glass  manufactory  at  Schabino,  near  Jamburg,  in  1717,  and  in  1720  an  establishment  for  the  making  of  French 
mirrors  and  dishes  and  plates  of  crystal  was  opened  at  Kiew.  In  the  last  year  of  the  last  century  we  find  mention 
of  Lund's  plate-glass  manufactory  at  \Vyborg,  in  Finland,  and  of  Bolew's  similar  establishment  in  the  Eussian 
government  (province)  of  Kajasan.  At  the  same  time  the  imperial  mirror  foundery  at  Saint  Petersburg  had 
already  begun  work ;  and  the  imperial  crystal  and  hollow-glass  manufactory,  which  exists  at  the  present  day,  had 
been  already  established  at  the  same  place.  In  1792,  with  the  aid  of  workmen  from  Gruenenplan,  the  foundation 
was  laid  of  the  Amelung  mirror  manufactory  at  Dorpat,  near  which  place,  in  1780,  a  similar  establishment  had  been 
set  up  by  Major  Lauw,  but  its  existence  had  been  brief. 


CHAPTER  XI.— THE  PRESENT  CONDITION  OF  GLASS-MAKING  IN  EUROPE. 


CHIEF  GLASS-MAKING  COUNTRIES  OF  EUROPE. — The  countries  of  Europe  most  largely  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  glass  at  the  present  time  are  England,  France,  Belgium,  Germany,  and  Austria- Hungary.  Each 
of  these  countries  not  only  manufacture  most  of  the  kinds  of  glass  needed  for  its  own  use,  but  the  factories 
supply  the  non-glass  making  countries  of  the  world  and  supplement  the  production  of  each  other  and  of  such 
other  states  as  manufacture  to  some  extent.  This  is  especially  true  of  the  finer  grades  of  glassware  (table  and 
ornamental  glass)  and  plate-glass. 

EACH  COUNTRY  HAS  A  SPECIALTY. — While  each  of  the  countries  named  produces  most,  if  not  all,  of  the  chief 
varieties  of  glass,  each  one  has  become  especially  skillful  in  the  manufacture  of  some  particular  variety,  and  has 
secured  and  maintained  a  pre-eminence  in  its  production  that  has  enabled  it  to  command  the  markets  of  the  world. 

ENGLAND'S  SPECIALTIES. — England  is  especially  noted  for  the  beauty,  purity,  and  brilliancy  of  her  flint  ware, 
which  is  without  doubt  the  purest  and  most  brilliant  made.  Individual  glass  houses  in  other  countries  may  produce 
flint  that  may  be  compared  with  some  English  flint,  but  none,  as  a  commercial  product,  that  can  rival  it,  while  in  no 
other  country  does  the  bulk  of  the  flint-glass  made  approach  even  the  bulk  of  that  made  in  England.  These  remarks 
apply  to  lead-flint  only,  as  the  American  lime-flint  is  probably,  so  far  as  the  metal  is  concerned,  equal,  if  not  superior, 
to  any  other.  In  the  blowing,  cutting,  and  engraving  of  the  flint,  the  regularity  and  perfection  of  the  work,  as 
well  as  the  beauty  and  brilliancy  of  the  finished  ware,  England  is  unequaled.  The  exhibit  of  Thomas  Webb  &  Sous 
at  the  Paris  exposition  of  1878  surpasses  in  these  respects,  and  in  the  limpid  whiteness,  purity,  and  brilliancy  of 
the  metal,  all  other  flint  I  have  ever  seen,  and  was  justly  entitled  to  the  "grand  prix"  it  received,  while  the  vases 
engraved  by  Mr.  Xorthwood  in  the  style  of  the  Portland  vase  equal  in  workmanship,  if  they  do  not  surpass,  that 
product  of  the  glass-makers'  and  engravers'  art.  Certainly  no  modern  work  equals  it. 

FRANCE'S  SPECIALTIES. — The  artistic  taste  shown  in  the  product  of  the  French  glass  houses  has  given  French 
glassware  a  world-wide  reputation.  The  metal  is  not  as  white  as  that  of  Bohemia,  nor  has  it  the  brilliancy  and 
fire  of  the  English  flint ;  but  for  elegance  of  shape,  lightness  of  design,  and  beauty  of  glass,  all  combined,  it  is 
unsurpassed.  The  products  of  the  Baccarat  works  have  been  regarded  for  years  as  models  of  taste,  and  have  been 
eagerly  sought  for  and  copied  in  cheaper  wares  by  the  glass  houses  of  other  countries.  France  is  also  unsurpassed  in 
the  manufacture  of  plate-glass,  the  product  of  the  Saint-Gobain  works  being  taken  as  the  standard  of  color,  quality, 
and  perfection ;  and  to  say  that  the  plate-glass  of  any  works  equals  French  plate  is  generally  considered  sufficient 
praise,  (a)  The  same  artistic  taste  that  has  given  French  glassware  so  enviable  a  reputation  is  displayed  in  the 
staining  and  decorating  of  window-  and  plate-glass.  The  stained-glass  windows  of  French  artists  show  remarkable 
ability  in  designing  and  execution,  (ft)  The  decoration  of  fancy  ware  by  various  methods,  especially  by  enameling 
and  etching,  is  also  carried  to  a  high  state  of  perfection,  both  as  to  color  and  workmanship. 

BELGIUM'S  SPECIALTY. — Belgium  is  pre-eminently  the  window-glass  manufacturer  of  the  world,  and  though  the 
other  countries  mentioned  above  (England.  France,  Germany,  and  Austria-Hungary)  all  make  window-glass  to  a 
considerable  extent,  there  is  not  one  of  them  in  which  Belgian  window-glass  does  not  find  a  market.  A  large 
amount,  equaling  a  large  proportion  of  their  consumption,  is  also  exported  to  other  countries,  and  even  the  United 
States  imported  in  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30,  1880,  37,927,414  pounds  of  Belgian  window-glass,  valued  at 

a  Our  American  works  claim  to  have  succeeded  in  making  plate-glass  fully  equal  to  the  French ;  indeed,  some  -works  claim  to  make 
better. 

b  Most  marked  advances  in  the  art  of  staining  windows  have  been  made  in  the  last  ten  years  in  this  country,  and  the  prodnctio-is  of 
Tiffany  and  La  Farge  rival  those  of  the  artists  of  any  country. 

1107 


70  MANUFACTUEE  OF  GLASS. 

'$1,230,622.  The  excellent  quality  of  this  glass,  as  well  as  its  remarkably  low  price,  accounts  for  this  import.  The 
average  value  of  the  Belgian  window-glass  imported  into  this  country  in  1880  was  about  3|  cents  per  pound. 

GERMANY'S  SPECIALTY. — Germany  is  especially  noted  in  the  markets  of  the  world  for  her  silvered  plate  or 
looking-glass  aud  for  her  cheap  table  ware  and  colored  vases.  The  production  of  mirrors  of  various  grades,  largely 
of  the  cheaper  kinds,  in  Germany  is  enormous,  and  their  exportation  constitute  a  large  part  of  her  foreign  trade.  Of 
the  $2,897,747  in  value  of  silvered  plate  imported  into  the  United  States  in  1880,  $2,746,636  was  from  Germany. 
The  cheap  colored-glass  vases  of  this  country  were  the  first  (about  1830)  to  supplant  the  decorated  china  vases, 
which  until  that  time  had  undisputed  sway  as  cheap  mantel  ornaments,  and  she  still  retains  much  of  the  trade  in 
these  articles,  though  other  nations  manufacture  them  in  large  quantities.  Germany  is  also  noted  for  a  remarkable 
ruby  glass,  which  was  brought  to  perfection  by  Kunckel  in  1679. 

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY'S  SPECIALTIES. — Austria,  or  Bohemia  in  Austria,  rivals  France  in  the  graceful  forms, 
the  variety  of  shapes,  and  the  beauty  of  the  engraving  and  decoration  of  its  glassware,  and  surpasses  it  in  the 
color  and  purity  of  the  glass  itself.  Bohemian  glass  has  been  renowned  for  many  years,  its  workmen  apparently 
inheriting  the  skill  and  some  of  the  peculiar  processes  of  manufacture  of  the  Venetians  when  the  cunning  of 
glass-making  left  the  city  of  the  Doges,  and  it  is  this  cunning  in  design  aud  ornamentation  that  has  given  it  its 
celebrity.  It  does  not  compare  with  the  English  flint  in  brilliancy,  and  is  only  equaled  by  the  French  in  beauty 
of  contour,  but  in  purity,  whiteness,  and  homogeueity  of  metal  it  is  the  best  white  glass  made  in  Europe,  while 
their  success  in  making  glass  of  intricate  design  and  great  difficulty  of  manipulation  makes  the  Bohemian  glass 
workers  second  only  to  those  of  Venice. 

VENETIAN  GLASS. — Though  not  a  large  producer  of  glass,  Venice  deserves  most  honorable  mention  in  any 
statement  of  the  specialities  in  glass  manufacture  of  the  diiferent  European  nations,  and  the  recent  very  successful 
revival  of  the  manufacture  of  Venetian  glass  at  Murano,  that  "  gentile  island  which  attends  the  cittie  of  Venice ", 
promises  to  restore  to  that  city  the  world-wide  celebrity  of  its  former  days  of  glass-making.  The  wonderful  color, 
intricacy  of  design,  and  execution  of  the  mosaics ;  the  pastes,  gem-like  in  color  and  brilliancy ;  the  murrhiue  of 
Pliny ;  the  remarkable  enameling  of  the  famous  tazze  of  St.  Mark's ;  the  aveuturiue  or  imitation  gold-stone,  with 
its  difficulties  in  manufacture ;  vases  in  niilleflori,  others  with  metallic  flakes  and  spun  and  twisted  threads  of 
filigree  work  ;  all  of  these  products  of  the  elder  Venetian  glass  houses  are  reproduced  with  wonderful  fidelity  in 
the  modern  Venetian  glass  of  the  Venice  and  Murano  Glass  and  Mosaic  Company.  The  glass-bead  manufacture 
of  Venice  is  also  a  remarkable  industry,  6,000,000  pounds  a  year  being  produced,  the  markets  of  t?he  world  being 
largely  supplied  from  this  country. 

GLASS  IN  OTHEK  EUROPEAN  COUNTRIES. — None  of  the  other  European  countries  are  especially  noted  for 
their  glass,  nor  is  it  made  to  any  great  extent  in  any  of  them.  Sweden  and  Norway  make  glass  of  the  commoner 
kmds,  window,  flint,  and  bottle,  but  no  plate.  Eussia  has  largely  increased  its  make  of  glass  in  the  last  ten  years, 
but  does  not  yet  supply  the  demand  of  its  own  people  even  for  the  commoner  kinds.  Holland  makes  large  quantities 
of  a  square  black  bottle.  Of  the  glass  works'  of  Spain  and  Portugal  but  little  is  known. 

PLATE-GLASS  FACTORIES  IN  EUROPE. — The  manufactories  of  plate-glass  are  located  chiefly  in  England, 
France,  Belgium,  and  Germany,  (a)  In  England  there  are  six  or  seven  works,  in  France  seven,  in  Belgium  five, 
in  Germany  five,  in  Eussia  one,  and  in  Austria -Hungary  (Bohemia)  one,  possibly  two,  making  a  total  of  twenty-six 
or  twenty-seven.  These  diifer  greatly  as  to  production,  most  of  the  English,  French,  and  Belgian  works  being  very 
extensive,  while  most  of  those  of  Germany  and  of  Eussia  and  Bohemia  are  comparatively  small.  Some  blown  plate 
is  made  in  Bohemia,  Bavaria,  and  England,  and  patent  plate  in  England. 

PRODUCTION  OF  PLATE-GLASS. — Of  these  countries  France  is  the  largest  producer  of  plate- glass,  England  the 
next,  Belgium  the  third,  and  Germany  the  fourth.  Mr.  Charles  Coln6(&)  estimated  the  production  of  Europe  in 
1877  at  1,800,000  square  yards,  or  16,200,000  square  feet,  valued  at  $12,000,000.  (c)  This  production  he  distributes 
as  follows : 

Square  feet- 
France  5,400,000 

England 5,400,000 

Belgium 2,250,000 

Other  countries 3,150,000 


Total 16,200,000 


This  production  has  largely  increased  since  the  date  named.  Mr.  Charles  Palmer,  on  behalf  of  the  plate- glass 
manufacturers,  of  England,  made  the  accompanying  statement  regarding  the  weekly  production  of  polished  plate- 
glass  in  England,  France,  and  Belgium  (d)  to  the  commissioner  to  negotiate  a  new  commercial  treaty  with  France. 

a  Statistics  of  the  European  glass  houses  are  exceedingly  difficult  to  obtain,  especially  in  England.  The  statistics  given  will 
therefore  ue  regarded  only  as  an  approximation  unless  otherwise  stated. 

6  See  Mr.  Charles  Colnd's  Report  on  Glass  and  Glassware  at  the  Paris  Exposition  of  1878,  page  329.    Washington,  1881. 
c  Mr.  Colu6  places  the  production  of  1860  at  992,000  square  yards,  and  of  K67  at  1,100,000  square  yards. 
d  See  English  Slue  Book,  Commercial,  No.  38,  1881,  pp.  121, 122. 
1108 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

PLATE-GLASS. 


71 


WORKS  I*  BELGIUM. 


WORKS  HI  FBAXCE. 


Companies. 

Weekly  pro- 
duction in 
English  feet 

Companies. 

Weekly  pro- 
duction in 
English  feet 

Total. 

Belgian  Plate-Glass  Syndicate  : 
Floreffe  

Feet. 

25,000 

Floreffe  (Belgian  company),  at  Jeumont,  department  du  Nord.. 

Feet. 
32,000 

feet. 

25  000 

32,000 

Roui  ..  

15,000 

department  do  Noid. 

Coorcelles  .  

20  000  i 

.      «  ,_.    « 

64,000 

Auvelais  

10,000 

>          80  000 

95,000 

50,000 

32,000 

16,000 

242,000 

175,000 

Assuming  that  these  works  would  average  forty  weeks'  running  in  a  year,  and  adding  to  the  production  of 
these  countries  thus  found  the  best  estimates  obtainable  for  Germany,  Russia,  and  Austria-Hungary,  the  production 
of  Europe  would  be  as  follows : 

Square  feet. 

France 9,680,000 

England 5,000,000 

Belgium 3,800,000 

Germany 2,900,000 

Russia 250,000 

Austria-Hungary 400,000 


Total 22,030,000 


This  estimate  agrees  substantially  with  that  of  Mr.  N.  T.  De  Pauw,  who  estimates  the  production  of  Europe 
at  500,000  square  feet  a  week,  (a) 

PRICES  OF  PLATE-GLASS  IN  EUROPE. — Mr.  Palmer,  in  his  statement  to  the  French  treaty  commissioner  before 
referred  to,  gives  the  following  as  the  prices  of  plate-glass  at  the  date  of  his  communication : 


LOXDOX. 


PARIS. 


PRICE  OF  FREXCH  POLISHED  PLATK. 


PRICE  OF  FRENCH  POU8BXD  GLASS. 


Saint-Gobain,  English  taring  less  40,  5.  and  2|  per  cent         French  ****%  Ie88  M  Per  cent-  disc<»u>t 


*** 


preminm 


"nd  TOPPle- 


Size. 

Price 
per  foot 

Size. 

Supplementary  discount. 

Plioeper 
foot,  net. 

About  10  feet  superficial  . 

..  d.   l 

1    6    i 

10  feet  superficial 

«.  d. 
•     1  111 

About  22  feet  superficial  

1    64 

90  feet  superficial 

2    0 

A  hnnt  33  fp^t  Superficial 

1    6} 

33  feet  superficial       .        ...            

2    34 

Abont  45  feet  superficial  

1    7 

2    31 

1    7t 

2    74 

WINDOW-GLASS  IN  EUEOPE. — It  is  impossible  from  the  data  at  hand  to  even  estimate  the  production  of 
window-glass  in  Europe  or  the  number  of  factories  at  work.  Xo  statistics,  not  even  an  estimate,  has  been  obtained 
from  England.  In  Belgium  there  are  61  window-glass  factories,  with  216  furnaces,  of  which  but  138  were  in  operation 
recently.  These  works  produce  from  3,600.000  to  4,000,000  boxes  of  glass  of  50  feet  each  annually.  In  France 
there  are  from  25  to  30  furnaces,  producing  from  800,000  to  900,000  boxes  annually ;  and  in  Sweden,  4  factories, 
with  an  annual  production  of  40,000  boxes ;  in  Norway,  1  factory,  no  product  given ;  in  Italy,  12  factories.  In 
Austria-Hungary,  63  factories  make  window-glass ;  in  Germany,  86,  while  from  Switzerland,  Spain,  Portugal,  and 
Russia  I  have  no  statistics,  though  window-glass  is  made  in  all  of  those  countries. 


a  Report  of  the  Tariff  Commission,  page  941.    Washington,  1882. 


1108 


72 


MANUFACTUEE  OF  GLASS. 


FLINT-  AND  BOTTLE-GLASS. — The  statistics  of  the  manufacture  of  fliut-  and  bottle-glass  in  Europe  are  even 
more  meager  than  those  of  plate-  and  window-glass.  All  the  information  that  has  been  obtained  is  included  under 
the  notes  of  the  manufacture  of  each  country  which  follow. 

MANUFACTUEE  OP  GLASS  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN. — The  glass  manufacturers  of  Great  Britain  are,  as  a  rule, 
extremely  chary  about  giving  statistical  information  concerning  their  works,  and  it  is  a  question  whether  any  late 
complete  statement  as  to  the  number  and  production  of  their  glass  houses  exists.  A  table  published  in  the  factory 
returns  of  1871  shows  the  number,  locality,  and  employes  of  the  glass  works  of  the  United  Kingdom  at  that  time 
to  be  as  follows : 


Localities. 

Number. 

Children. 

Males  up 
to  18. 

Males 
above  18. 

Females. 

Total. 

24 

10 

1,113 

2  153 

401 

3  677 

37 

6 

1,530 

3,602 

927 

6  065 

Middlesex       

16 

4 

134 

319 

30 

487 

g 

7 

117 

277 

23 

4-4 

1 

70 

243 

6 

319 

Stafford 

33 

1 

808 

2  755 

312 

3  876 

9 

86 

136 

5 

227 

Warwick  

47 

3 

274 

874 

167 

1  318 

8 

2 

56 

13' 

7 

196 

York  

29 

12 

877 

1  961 

138 

2  988 

19 

1 

464 

1  037 

91 

1  593 

a 

63 

192 

9 

264 

Total    

240 

46 

5  592 

13  680 

2  116 

21  434 

CHIEF  LOCALITIES. — The  chief  locality  for  glass  manufacture  in  Great  Britain  is  in  the  north  of  England 
especially  on  the  Tyne,  plate,  window,  and  flint,  both  blown  and  pressed,  being  made  in  large  quantities.  Plate  is 
also  made  at  Saint  Helen's,  in  Lancashire,  at  and  near  Birmingham,  and  at  London ;  flint  in  London,  the  Birmingham 
district,  Warrington,  etc.;  window-glass  very  extensively  in  the  Birmingham  district,  and  bottles  and  window-glass 
near  Liverpool. 

DECLINE  OF  THE  ENGLISH  GLASS  INDUSTRY. — If  the  statements  that  are  constantly  appearing  in  the  English 
journals  devoted  to  this  industry  are  true,  glass-making  in  Great  Britain  is  not  in  a  very  prosperous  condition.  A 
correspondent  of  the  Pottery  Gazette  says : 

It  is  a  very  significant  fact  that  nearly  every  trade  in  this  country  has  made  gigantic  strides  in  advance  during  the  past  thirty-five 
years,  during  which  time  the  glass  trade  has  been  stationary,  if  it  has  not  even  retrograded  in  its  productiveness,  (a) 

This  condition  of  affairs  is  especially  noticeable  in  the  flint-glass  business.  The  same  journal  gave  recently  a 
list  of  30  flint-glass  furnaces,  containing  296  pots,  located  in  various  parts  of  the  United  Kingdom,  that  had  become 
extinct.  Commenting  upon  this  that  paper  says : 

It  is  but  just  to  say  that  some  of  these  houses  have  removed  to  more  convenient  works,  to  the  extent  of  about  6  or  8  furnaces 
and  48  or  60  pots ;  but  still  there  is  a  great  reduction  in  the  number  of  works,  during  which  period  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  the  population 
has  nearly  doubled. 

The  following  table  shows  the  value  of  the  British  imports  and  exports'of  glass  for  the  years  1878, 1879,  and  1880 : 

IMPORTS  OF  GLASS. 


1S78. 

isn. 

1880. 

Window  and  German  sheet  including  shades  and  cylinders 

£452  202 

£450  647 

£476  338 

Flint  

489  518 

174  113 

179  503 

Plate,  silvered  or  not  

233  602 

163  064 

214  917 

Manufactures,  nnemunerated,  and  old  broken  

879  733 

789  006 

906  991 

EXPORTS  OF  GLASS. 


1878. 

1879. 

1880. 

Plate  

£106,  762 
239,747    | 
310,  307 
99,  068 
149,  275 

£133,  635 
230,  537 
305,606 
113,  255 
190,  635 

£192,  607 
248,  694 
332,886 
147,  321 
186,  980 

Flint  

Common  bottles  

Other  manufactures,  unennmerated  

Glass  of  all  kinds  not  of  English  manufacture  

It  will  be  noted  that  the  imports  of  1878  and  1880  do  not  differ  much  except  as  to  flint,  which  shows  a  decided 
decrease,  while  the  exports  show  in  all  classes  of  glass  an  increase.    Part  of  the  decline  in  flint-glass  is  no  doubt 


mo 


a  See  the  rottery  Gazelle.     London,  September  1, 1881. 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  73 

due  to  the  competition  oi  the  cheaper  lime-glass,  which,  for  ordinary  purposes,  is  fully  as  good,  and  is  now  made  of 
a  superior  quality.  At  the  same  tim«  it  is  true  that  for  beauty  and  brilliancy  no  glass  can  compare  with  English 
lead-flint. 

MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS  IN  FRANCE. — For  many  years  France,  through  the  Saint-Gobaiu  works,  has  virtually 
controlled  the  manufacture  of  plate-glass  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  and,  to  a  large  extent,  its  production  and 
prices  throughout  the  world.  The  Saiut-Gobaiu  Company  not  only  own  four  of  the  seven  French  plate-glass 
works,  producing  fully  70  per  cent,  of  the  total  make  of  France,  but  they  also  own  the  only  two  important  plate- 
glass  works  of  Germany.  On  the  other  hand,  however,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  two  of  the  remaining  three  of  the 
Freuch  plate-glass  works  are  owned  by  a  Belgian  company.  It  thus  appears  that  the  plate-glass  production  of 
Europe  is  largely  controlled  by  two  companies,  one  French  and  the  other  Belgian.  It  is  possible  that  the  number  of 
plate-glass  works  at  present  in  France  should  be  given  as  eight,  as  a  factory  was  erected  at  Saint-Denis,  near  Paris, 
a  few  years  since,  though  I  am  not  advised  whether  it  is  running  at  present.  The  Saint-Gobain  works  have  made 
the  largest  sheets  of  plate-glass  that  have  ever  been  produced.  At  the  exhibition  of  1878  at  Paris  an  unsilvered 
polished  plate,  measuring  21  feet  2  inches  by  13  feet  6  inches,  was  exhibited.  A  special  table  had  to  be  prepared  on 
which  to  cast  this  enormous  plate.  The  quality  of  the  French  plate  is  most  excellent,  and  is  the  standard  for 
comparison  in  all  the  countries  of  the  world.  A  considerable  amount  of  the  production  of  this  glass  is  used  in  the 
manufacture  of  mirrors,  some  275,000  square  yards  being  ionsumed  annually  in  this  way.  The  manufacture  of 
window-glass  in  France  is  relatively  of  the  least  importance,  the  production  of  plate,  flint  (lime  and  lead),  and  of 
bottles  being  greater  in  value  than  that  of  window-glass.  According  to  Mr.  Coln£,  there  were  in  France  in  1878  (a) 
from  25  to  30  furnaces,  with  8  pots  each,  producing  from  40,000,000  to  45,000,000  square  feet.  These  are  found 
almost  entirely  in  the  north  of  France,  near  the  coal-fields.  Large  quantities  of  round,  oval,  and  square  shades,  for 
protecting  clocks,  artificial  flowers,  etc.,  are  made  in  France,  the  process  of  manufacture  being  similar  to  that  of 
window-glass,  the  sheets  being  blown  in  cylinders  of  a  very  even  thickness  all  through.  The  coloring,  staining, 
painting,  and  decorating  of  window-glass  is  carried  on  to  a  remarkable  extent  in  that  country,  there  being  in  the 
neighborhood  of  five  hundred  establishments  in  France  for  thus  manipulating  sheet-glass,  and  the  French  colored 
sheet-glass  is  especially  notable  both  for  its  colors  and  for  their  manipulation.  The  so-called  flashed  or  doubled 
glass  is  very  common,  both  in  sheet  and  flint,  flint  glassware  being  in  some  instances  coated  with  as  many  as  four 
different  layers  of  different  colored  glass  put  on  very  thin  and  evenly.  Most  of  the  stained  or  colored  glass  used 
comes  from  the  departments  of  the  Nord  and  Pas-de-Calais.  The  work  at  many  of  the  establishments  has  att?oned 
a  high  degree  of  perfection,  and  the  French  stained  glass,  by  reason  of  its  artistic  excellence  and  cheapness,  is  in 
demand  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  As  has  already  been  stated,  the  French  glass  houses  are  especially  noted  for 
the  taste  displayed  in  their  flint  ware,  both  lime  and  lead ;  but  the  quality  is  not  as  good  as  the  English,  though 
a  marked  improvement  has  recently  been  made  in  this  respect,  and  the  gracefulness  of  'the  forms  and  the  beauty 
of  the  designs  have  given  French  crystal  glass  a  reputation  that  is  unrivaled.  The  decoration  of  window -glass 
with  enamel  colors  in  imitation  of  the  antique  is  also  quite  an  industry  in  France.  Most  of  the  work  in  the  French 
flint  houses  is  hand-work,  the  result  depending  largely  upon  the  manual  dexterity  of  the  workman.  Pressing  on 
the  American  system  is  not  employed  to  any  great  extent,  while  that  which  is  made  is  decidedly  inferior  to  the 
American. 

Owing  to  her  wine  production,  France  is  naturally  a  large  manufacturer  of  bottles,  producing  annually  from 
125,000,000  to  150,000,000;  indeed,  the  value  of  bottles  made  in  this  country  exceeds  that  of  any  other  form  of  glass. 
Some  of  the  bottle  works  have  been  established  for  a  long  time,  one,  that  of  J.  Tumbeuf  Xeveu  et  Xeveu,  in  the 
Jura,  being  founded  in  1506.  It  was  at  this  place  in  1630  that  the  first  gentlemen  glass-blowers  (gentilhommes 
verriers)  were  made  by  decree  of  the  king. 

The  following  table  published  in  the  Report  on  Glass  and  Glassware  of  the  Paris  Exposition  shows  approximately 
the  value  of  the  annual  production  and  exportation  of  glass  of  French  manufacture  in  1878: 


Description. 

Production. 

Export. 

. 

Crystal                     

$2,200,000 

$800,000 

2,800  000 

1,600  000 

5  000  000 

1  600  000 

3  000  000 

600  000 

Bottles                            -. 

8  000  000 

2  400,000 

MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS  IN  BELGIUM. — Belgium  possesses  excellent  facilities  for  the  manufacture  of  glass, 
and  iu  some  lines,  especially  window-glass,  these  facilities  have  enabled  her  to  produce  so  cheaply  as  to 
command  a  portion  of  the  trade  of  the  most  important  countries  of  the  world.  Fully  two-thirds  of  the  glass 
made  in  Belgium'  is  exported.  As  is  noted  elsewhere.  Belgium  has  tive  plate-glass  factories,  producing  about 
94.0JK)  square  feet  polished  plate  a  year.  While  some  of  the  plate  in  Belgium  equals  the  French,  this  is  not 
true  of  all  manufactured.  The  production,  however,  is  increasing,  and  the  quality  is  improving  every  year.  This 

a  Keiiort  of  Part*  Exposition  on  Glass  <in<f  Glassicare,  Charles  Colne.  page  345.     Washington.  1881. 


•<4  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

production  is  controlled  by  a  syndicate,  as  is  also  the  production  of  plate-glass  in  France.  There  are  in  Belgium 
61  window-glass  factories,  with  216  furnaces,  containing  from  6  to  8  pots  each,  "f  which  at  a  recent  date  78  were 
idle,  leaving  but  138  in  operation.  These  works  are  mostly  situated  in  Charleroi.  Most  of  the  furnaces  used  are 
gas  furnaces.  These  works  produce  from  180,000,000  to  200,000,000  square  feet  annually,  or,  say,  from  3,600,000  to 
4,000,000  boxes  of  fifty  feet  each.  The  Belgian  window-glass  is,  as  a  rule,  of  a  very  good  quality,  free  from  bubbles 
or  impurities,  of  a  good  color,  and  even  surface.  A  large  quantity  of  the  colored  glass  is  of  a  superior  quality  and 
very  clear  color.  Their  flashed  glass  is  very  good,  and  is  admirably  adapted  for  etching  or  engraving.  They  also  make 
quantities  of  corrugated,  depolished,  and  painted  sheets.  Some  corrugated  cylinders  7£  feet  high  have  been  made 
at  Charleroy.  Depolishiug  is  done  by  the  Tilghmau  sand-blast.  Considerable  glassware,  both  lead  and  flint,  is  made 
in  Belgium,  but  it  is  not,  as  a  rule,  of  a  high  standard  of  excellence,  though  the  product  of  some  of  the  works,  especially 
that  of  Val  Saint  Lambert,  is  fully  equal  to  the  English  and  the  French.  The  cheapness  of  this  ware  has  made  a  great 
demand  for  it,  especially  when  made  into  objects  of  utility.  The  exportation  of  this  grade  of  glass  amounts  to  one  and 
a  half  million  to  two  million  dollars  annually.  The  bottle  industry  of  Belgium  does  not  hold  the  same  relative  rank 
as  this  industry  does  in  either  Germany  or  France,  and  the  production  from  1875  to  1880  was  only  about  12,000,000 
annually,  not  as  many  as  the  single  works  of  Siemens  at  Dresden  make.  This  industry  has  been  much  neglected 
in  recent  years.  In  1872  12  furnaces  were  at  work  on  bottles ;  in  1877  but  5.  In  1872  Belgium  exported  7,568,000 
pounds  of  bottles,  and  imported  only  1,377,000  pounds ;  in  1877,  however,  the  exports  amounted  to  only  1,775,000 
pounds,  and  the  importations  had  increased  to  3,476,000  pounds. 

MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS  IN  GERMANY. — In  1882  there  were  in  Germany  317  establishments  for  the  manufacture 
of  glass,  (a)  a  reduction  from  329  in  1878,  (b)  and  348  in  1873.  (c)  Many  of  these,  however,  were  of  little  importance, 
being  either  small  works  for  the  production  of  watch  crystals,  blown  pearls,  etc.,  or  so-called  "  refineries  "  similar 
to  those  common  in  Bohemia,  in  which  crude  glass  is  produced,  to  be  finished  in  other  works,  (d)  These  glass  works 
are  found  in  nearly  all  parts  of  the  empire,  being  most  numerous  in  Prussia,  especially  in  Silesia.  The  production 
of  the  different  kinds  of  glass,  however,  is  not  so  widely  distributed,  certain  districts  being  the  centers  of  production 
of  certain  kinds.  In  Thuringia  and  the  Bavarian  forests  large  quantities  of  both  blown  and  cast  glass  are  made  for 
the  mirror  works  at  Fiirth.  (e)  Window-glass  is  made  chiefly  in  the  Ehine  provinces,  Silesia,  and  Westphalia ; 
common  table  ware  in  the  Rhine  provinces  and  Lusatia ;  fine  table  ware  in  the  forests  of  Bavaria  and  Lorraine ; 
and  chemical  ware  in  the  forests  of  Bavaria  and  Brandenburg.  The  glass  works  of  Saxony  make  large  quantities 
of  lamp  articles ;  and  Saarbriick,  Prussia,  and  Saxony  produce  bottles  very  extensively,  one  establishment,  that 
of  Fred.  Siemens,  at  Dresden,  producing  16,000,000  annually. 

The  statistics  of  the  glass  houses  of  Germany  other  than  those  given  above  are  not  only  exceedingly  meager, 
but  very  difficult  of  classification.  The  best  information  obtainable  places  the  number  of  establishments  at  which 
plate-glass  is  made  at  five.  Two  of  these,  Stolberg  and  Mannheim,  owned  by  the  French  company  of  Saiut-Gobaiu, 
had  for  a  long  time  the  monopoly  of  the  manufacture  of  plate-glass  in  Germany,  but  within  a  few  years  past  at 
least  three  other  works  have  been  established.  In  Thuringia  and  the  Bavarian  forests,  also,  according  to  the 
German  Catalogue  of  the  Centennial  Exhibition,  glass  is  made  by  casting,  the  plates  being  ground  by  water-power 
with  very  primitive  machinery.  These  plates  are  chiefly  used  at  Fiirth  for  the  manufacture  of  looking-glass.  There 
are  in  the  neighborhood  of  86  establishments,  with  125  furnaces,  averaging  7  pots  each,  at  which  window-glass  and 
blown  spiegel-glass  are  made,  and  about  the  same  number  make  bottles,  carboys,  and  demijohns.  At  the  other 
works,  and  also  at  some  of  those  making  window-glass  and  bottles,  various  kinds  of  table  ware,  articles  of  luxury, 
chemical  apparatus,  etc.,  are  made. 

FURNACES  AND  FUEL. — A  great  deal  of  attention  has  been  paid  in  Germany  to  the  construction  and  method 
of  firing  furnaces,  and  some  very  important  advances  have  been  made.  Direct  firing  has  been  abandoned  in  many 
works  and  systems  of  indirect  firing  adopted.  The  Siemens  furnace,  not  only  with  pots,  but  of  the  tank  variety,  has 
been  very  successful.  Other  systems,  as  the  Nehse  and  the  Boetius,  are  in  use.  While  coal  is  the  chief  fuel  of  the 
glass  houses,  the  use  of  wood,  peat,  and  turf  is  by  no  means  uncommon.  When  wood  is  used,  the  works  are  located 
with  reference  to  its  supply,  and  as  the  wood  is  exhausted  and  transportation  into  certain  districts  is  made  easier  and 
cheaper  these  works  are  abandoned.  The  development  of  the  glass  industry  of  Germany  is  now  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  deposits  of  mineral  coal,  the  old  glass-making  districts  gradually  losing  their  prominence. 

MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS  IN  AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. — The  beauty,  elegance,  and  perfection  of  the  Austrian 
glassware,  as  well  as  the  skill  displayed  in  its  manufacture,  have  given  it  a  reputation  that  is  second  to  none 
other.  The  Bohemian  glassware  is  a  lime  glass,  containing  little  or  no  lead  but  a  large  percentage  of  silica,  and  is 
consequently  well  adapted  to  decoration.  The  purity,  whiteness,  and  homogeneity  of  the  metal  make  it  equal  to  the 
best  white  glass  produced  in  Europe.  Not  only  in  form  and  metal  does  the  Bohemian  ware  rank  with  the  highest,  but 

a  See  Deutschlands  Glasindustrie,  Julins  Fahdt.     Dresden,  1882. 
6  See  same  for  1878. 

c  Bulletin  of  the  Society  for  the  Encouragement  of  National  Industry,  page  71.     Paris,  1877. 

d  In  1873  it  was  stated  that  but  250  of  the  German  glass  houses  were  of  much  importance.     It  is  true,  however,  that  though,  as 
Btated,  the  number  of  works  has  declined,  the  output  of  many  of  them  has  largely  increased. 
e  Very  large  quantities  of  little  mirrors,  called  Judenmasspiegel,  are  made  in  Germany. 
1112 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


75 


in  its  manipulation  it  has  deservedly  a  great  reputation,  the  variety  and  diversity,  as  well  as  the  beauty,  of  its 
engraved  and  decorated  articles,  being  beyond  question.  The  conditions  of  manufacture  of  this  Bohemian  glass 
are  also  such  that  it  can  be  very  cheaply  produced. 

One  of  the  specialties  of  Austrian  glass-making  is  the  manufacture  of  various  fabrics  for  ladies'  wear  from  spun 
glass.  The  glass  is  spun  into  threads,  like  ordinary  silk  or  cotton,  and  woven  into  different-colored  fabrics,  sometimes 
entirely  of  glass  and  sometimes  with  a  warp  of  silk  or  cotton.  Collars,  neckties,  cords  and  tassels,  fringes,  pin- 
cushions, feathers,  belts,  etc.,  are  all  made  of  this  material.  At  the  Paris  exposition  in  1878  a  bonnet  made  entirely 
of  spun  glass,  with  feather  and  ribbons  lined  with  silk,  was  shown,  as  well  as  cloaks  and  other  articles  of  wear. 
This  spun  glass  is  also  used  for  watch-chains,  brushes,  etc.  Glass  flowers  are  also  made  to  a  considerable  extent,  but 
it  is  difficult  for  these  to  compete  with  those  made  from  china.  As  is  stated  elsewhere,  large  quantities  of  what  is 
known  as  "raw  glass"  are  made  in  Bohemia,  This  glass  furnishes  the  raw  material  of  other  establishments,  and 
is  in  these  establishments  decorated,  polished,  and  made  into  looking-glasses,  beads,  etc. 

There  is  but  one  plate-glass  works  in  Austria-Hungary,  as  the  manufacture  of  plate-glass  has  not  been  a  very 
successful  enterprise  in  that  country.  The  first  works  was  established  in  1700,  and,  after  leading  a  peripatetic 
existence,  was  finally  abandoned  in  1S40.  The  plate-glassworks  now  in  operation  is  at  Stockau,  in  Bohemia.  The 
glass  is  chiefly  used  for  the  manufacture  of  mirrors.  Considerable  window-glass  is  also  made  in  Austria,  much  of 
it  for  the  manufacture  of  looking-glasses,  for  which  large  sizes  are  blown,  the  workmen  using  levers,  cranes,  props, 
and  other  mechanical  means  in  its  production.  The  finishing  of  this  glass  is  carried  on  in  the  Pilsen  district,  where 
there  is  a  number  of  establishments  for  grinding  and  silvering.  There  are  in  Austria  63  glass  factories  making 
cylinder  glass,  46  making  what  is  called  cast  glass,  mainly  for  mirrors,  and  56  making  both. 

The  chief  seat  of  the  Austrian  manufacture  is  iu  Bohemia,  169  of  the  360  furnaces  reported  below  being  in  that 
district.  The  glass  houses,  however,  are  generally  very  primitive  affairs,  being  in  the  midst  of  forests,  the  furnaces 
ordinarily  very  small,  containing  seven  or  eight  small  pots,  and  burning  wood.  These  furnaces,  being  so  rude  and 
inexpensive,  are  placed  in  the  midst  of  the  timber.  As  the  fuel  around  a  factory  is  burned,  it  is  found  more 
economical  to  move  the  furnace  than  to  bring  the  futl  to  it.  This  state  of  affairs  has  resulted  in  the  division  of 
glass-making  in  Bohemia  into  two  distinct  branches,  the  manufacture  or  the  production  of  the  rough  unfinished 
articles  and  the  manipulation — the  so-called  refining,  or  the  cutting,  engraving,  and  decorating  of  this  raw  glass. 
In  a  few  establishments  both  operations  are  carried  on,  but  the  larger  number  simply  blow  or  mold  the  articles  and 
sell  them  to  the  glass  refiner.  The  result  of  this  division  has  been  the  training  of  a  body  of  excellent  engravers,  and 
the  skill  has  been  still  further  encouraged  by  a  government  museum ;  and  drawing-  and  art-schools  in  connection 
with  the  glass  industry  have  also  been  opened  at  various  places.  As  is  stated  in  the  chapter  on  materials,  sand 
is  but  seldom  used  in  Bohemia,  quartz,  which  is  quite  abundant,  being  substituted  for  it. 

According  to  the  last  statistical  reports  published  in  1880  there  are  in  Austria-Hungary  230  firms,  operating 
25.J  glass  houses,  in  which  there  are  360  furnaces.  In  these  furnaces  are  2,803  open  pots,  37  covered  pots,  and  5 
tanks.  Of  the  360  furnaces,  15,  with  123  pots,  are  regarded  as  permanently  idle ;  7  furnaces,  with  50  pots,  as 
temporarily  idle ;  1  furnace,  with  8  pots,  and  1  Siemens  tank-furnace  were  in  course  of  construction.  The  location 
of  these  furnaces  and  the  number  of  workmen  engaged  are  as  follows : 


Location  of  furnaces. 

GlJuw 
houses. 

Furnace*. 

Workmen. 

122 

189 

18,012 

16 

9,072 

Silesia 

3 

3 

M 

Galicia 

15 

15 

358 

I 

111 

8 

14 

485 

3 

4 

179 

Salzburg                       ,     -  r  -    ,  ,     ,   , 

1 

2 

300 

Stvria  

. 

27 

1,142 

Kaernttn      

2 

2 

to 

TTrain 

2 

4 

108 

Tvrol 

4 

5 

169 

T^lmatift 

1 

1 

24 

40 

66 

2,850 

Croatia  

4 

{ 

170 

3 

4 

155 

g 

$ 

200 

Helpers  are  not  included  in  this  estimate.  If  we  add  to  this  number  21,500  workmen  engaged  in  glass  refineries 
and  other  factories  of  a  kindred  character,  we  may  put  the  number  of  workmen  engaged  in  the  glass  industry  of 
Austria-Hungary  at  60,000. 

Of  these  360  works,  1  manufactures  plate-glass,  1  cathedral  glass,  63  window-glass,  including  blown 
looking-glass  and  colored  glass,  71  table  ware,  131  hollow  glass,  including  crystal  and  fine  glasses,  20  lamps,  50 

1113 


MANUFACTUEE  OF  GLASS. 


green  glass  and  bottles,  15  colored  raw  glass  (9  of  these  are  window-glass,  and  are  included  in  window-glass 
manufacture),  15  raw  glass  sticks  and  pipes  for  beads,  and  2  pressed  glass.  As  stated  above,  wood  is  the  chief  fuel 
used.  Of  the  360  furnaces,  244  use  wood  as  fuel,  86  peat,  18  coal,  and  12  turf  and  wood. 

One  hundred  and  forty-six  glass  houses  manufacture  cut  glass  and  other  fine  ware.  Of  these,  47  use  foot- 
power,  57  water-power,  and  16  steam-power.  The  total  annual  production  of  Austria  reaches  iu  value  about 
$12,000,000.  I  find  a  statement  in  the  Bulletin  of  the  Society  for  the  Encouragement  of  the  National  Industry  in 
France  to  the  etfect  that,  in  1873,  70,000  to  80,000  quintals  of  blown  window-glass  were  made  in  Bohemia  in  that 
year. 

MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS  IN  ITALY. — The  recent  revival  of  the  manufacture  of  Venetian  glass,  while  it  has 
not  added  largely  to  the  amount  or  value  of  the  production  of  Italy,  has  given  to  its  glass  a  reputation  that  has 
been  wanting  since  the  fires  of  Murano  went  out.  In  1866  the  Venice  andMurano  Glass  Company  was  established 
by  a  few  English  gentlemen  for  the  purpose  of  restoring  the  manufacture  of  Venetian  glass,  and  the  result  has 
been  a  degree  of  excellence  in  product  not  unworthy  of  comparison  with  that  which  in  former  days  characterized 
the  productions  of  the  glass  works  of  Venice  and  Murano.  Through  the  kindness  of  Signor  G.  Castellani,  to 
whose  skill  the  modern  glass  houses  of  Venice  are  so  much  indebted,  I  have  received  the  following  statement 
regarding  the  works  at  Murano  : 

Murano,  a  small  island  twenty  minutes  distant  from  Venice,  contains  4,000  inhabitants,  2,000  of  whom  are  employed  in  glass  works. 
In  these  works  are  made  beads,  sheet  window-glass,  blown-glass  articles,  (a)  vases,  table  ware,  etc.,  chandeliers,  bottles,  green  druggists' 
ware,  and  enamels  for  mosaics.  There  are  ten  or  twelve  furnaces  in  these  different  establishments.  The  most  important  of  the  Murano 
works,  in  a  commercial  point  of  view,  is  Le  Fabbriehe  Unite,  where  beads  are  made,  about  a  thousand  workmen  being  employed.  The  Venice 
and  Murano  Company,  which  is  the  principal  factory  for  blown  and  artistic  glass,  employs  about  seventy  men,  part  of  whom  are 
called  maestri.  Its  production  is  limited,  the  number  of  matstri  being  very  small  and  not  easily  increased.  The  production  amounts  to 
about  500,000  francs  ($96,500)  a  year.  The  entire  product  of  the  island  does  not  exceed  5,000,000  francs  ($965,000)  a  year.  All  the  materials 
•used  on  this  island  are  drawn  from  other  countries ;  the  sand  from  Dalmatia,  soda  from  England,  coloring  matter  chiefly  from  Germany. 

As  to  the  details  of  the  manufacture  of  glass  in  other  parts  of  Italy  but  little  information  is  obtained.  The 
following  statement  was  obtained  from  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs  of  Italy  through  the  late  Mr.  Marsh,  American 
minister : 


Kindt  of  glass. 

No.  of 
establish- 
ments. 

Average  num. 
her  of  em- 
ployed. 

12 

1,200 

49 

3,000 

14 

800 

Total 

75 

5  000 

MANUFACTUEE  OF  GLASS  IN  EUSSIA.— The  development  of  the  glass  industry  in  Eussia  in  the  last  fifteen 
years  has  been  very  marked.  All  kinds  of  glass  are  made  in  this  empire:  plate,  window,  glassware,  and  bottles. 
As  a  rule,  however,  the  works  are  quite  primitive.  In  the  Wilua,  Minsk,  and  neighboring  districts  only  wood  is 
used.  The  furnaces  are  very  primitive,  and  average  but  from  four  to  six  pots.  In  the  central  district,  however, 
where  there  are  fifty-eight  works,  the  establishments  are  somewhat  larger.  The  plate-glass  establishment  is  in  the 
northeast  district.  The  entire  production  of  Russia  can  be  placed  at  about  10,000,000  rubles,  or  $7,779,000.  The 
number  of  glass  factories  in  Eussia  iu  1879  was  202,  the  number  of  persons  employed  14,480. 

MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS  IN  SWEDEN. — Sweden  manufactures  glass  somewhat  more  extensively  than  Norway, 
supplying  not  only  the  larger  part  of  its  own  demand,  but  having  some  surplus  to  export  to  Eussia.  Its  quality, 
however,  is  not  remarkable,  and  but  little  attention  is  paid  to  the  production  of  anything  but  the  commoner  grades, 
though  some  painted  glass  is  made.  There  are  in  Sweden  33  glass  works,  producing  window-glass,  glassware, 
and  bottles,  no  plate-glass  being  made.  Of  these,  4  manufacture  window-glass,  making  19,602  cases  yearly,  (6)  15 
glassware,  and  14  are  green-glass  factories.  In  these  33  works  are  38  furnaces,  with  280  pots  and  1  tank.  Seven 
furnaces  use  gas,  3  coal,  2  peat,  and  2  wood,  and  31  are  direct-firing,  using  wood  as  a  fuel.  The  statistics  of  these 
factories  for  1879  are  as  follows  :  (c) 


! 

Jl&SL          No.  of 

NUMBER  OK  EMPLOYES. 

Value  of  prod- 

emente8h-     *»«*•• 

Men       i    Women          Males 
over  16.     ;    over  10.        nnder  16. 

uct. 

Window  -glass  -  -                              

4         



$93,  955 

15 



295,  547 

14 

26S,  323 



Total  ...          .            

33                    38 

(280  pots  ( 

1  200     '                50                  800 

654,  825 

1  1  tank.  5 

a  Known  as  Soffiati. 

b  These  cases  are  probably  of  100  feet  each. 

c  For  these  figures  I  am  indebted  to  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Fredr.  Brnsliewitz,  of  Limmared,  Sweden. 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


77 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS  IN  NORWAY. — But  little  glass  is  made  in  Norway.  There  is  but  one  window-glass 
factory  which  uses  wood  as  a  fuel  in  a  direct-firing  furnace;  two  flint  works  making  table  ware,  one  using  a  Boetius 
and  the  other  a  wood-gas  furnace,  and  three  bottle  houses  using  Siemens  furnaces,  two  with  pots  and  one  tank. 
The  latest  statistics  at  hand,  which  are  only  approximately  correct,  are  as  follows : 


Kinds  of  glass. 

Xo.  of           >~    „* 

•sr-  ^^ 

No.  of 
emplov68. 

Value  of  prod- 
uct. 

i      i 

35 

$27,000 

Glassware           

2                     2 

300 

86,500 

3    1                 3 

270 

86,  MO 

1 

Total                          

•                     < 

605 

200,000 

Of  the  employes  25  are  women  and  112  are  children. 

MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS  IN  SPAIN. — Though  Spain  was  one  of  the  first  nations  of  western  Europe  to  make 
glass,  the  present  condition  of  this  industry  by  no  means  justifies  the  promise  of  its  beginning.  There  existed  in 
Catalonia,  Spain,  in  the  last  century  many  works  famous  for  their  beautiful  glass,  but  these  are  nearly  all  closed. 
Iii  the  whole  of  this  kingdom  at  the  present  time  there  are  only  some  23  or  24  glass  houses,  making  bottles,  lamp 
articles,  and  window-glass,  mostly  for  local  use,  though  some  little  is  exported.  At  these  factories,  also,  some 
rude  and  strange  shaped  vessels  and  drinking-cups  are  made,  and  these,  compared  with  the  specimens  remaining, 
show  that  the  old  forms  and  the  old  systems  of  ornamentation  are  still  in  use. 

GLASS  IN  HOLLAND. — There  are  in  Holland  19  glass  works,  all  but  one  of  which  are  engaged  in  the  manufacture 
of  the  peculiar  square  glass  bottles  used  for  bottling  the  Dutch  spirits.  Many  of  these  bottle  factories  are  in 
connection  with  the  distilleries,  and  consequently  have  a  steady  business,  but  little  affected  by  foreign  competition. 
The  total  production  is  about  19,000,000  a  year,  all  .colored.  In  addition  to  these  bottle  factories  there  is  a 
glassware  works  at  Maastrecht. 

The  province  of  Zealand  furnishes  a  substance  largely  used  in  the  manufacture  of  plate-glass,  "bergasche", 
supposed  to  be  the  remains  of  a  salt-boiling  works  which  once  existed  in  that  province.  This  substance  takes  the 
place  of  soda,  but  requires  especial  preparation. 

GLASS  IN  PORTUGAL. — In  Portugal  there  is  one  establishment  for  the  manufacture  of  crystal  and  fine  glass, 
-and  some  glass  of  other  kinds  is  made,  but  not  enough  for  the  needs  of  the  country. 


CHAPTER  XII.— HISTORY  OF  GLASS-MAKING  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


GLASS  MAKING  IX  VIRGINIA  AND  WEST  VIRGINIA. 

One  of  the  first  attempts  at  manufacturing  within  the  limits  of  the  thirteen  original  colonies  was  the  production 
of  glass.  The  hopes  of  sudden  wealth  from  the  discovery  of  gold  and  silver,  or  from  finding  the  fabled  passage 
through  this  continent  to  the  South  Sea,  were  doubtless  the  chief  causes  of  the  formation  of  the  London  Company 
and  its  early  attempts  to  colouize  Virginia.  At  the  same  time  this  was  a  commercial  venture,  with  the  hopes  of 
profit,  and  with  a  shrewdness  characteristic  of  the  English  merchants,  not  only  of  that  but  of  subsequent  centuries, 
they  did  not  forget  entirely  the  possibilities  near  at  hand  in  their  search  for  what  they  believed  would  be  greater 
ones  in  the  near  future.  The  vessel  which  carried  Captain  Newport  to  this  colony  on  his  second  voyage,  in  1608, 
also  brought  out  eight  Poles  and  Germans  to  make  "pitch,  tar,  glass,  mills,  and  soap-ashes".  Stith  wisely  remarks 
that  ;'  had  the  country  been  peopled  they  would  have  done  well,  but  they  only  proved  a  burdeu  and  a  hinderance 
to  the  rest",  (a)  After  the  return  from  the  fruitless  expedition  to  the  country  of  the  "Manakins",  the  president 
of  the  colony.  Captain  Smith,  dispersed  as  many  as  -were  able,  some  to  make  glass,  and  others  for  pitch,  tar,  and 
soap-ashes".  Between  the  arrival  of  Captain  Newport  and  the  return  of  his  vessel,  in  1608  or  1609,  some  glass  was 
made,  aud  part  of  the  return  cargo,  the  first  that  conveyed  any  exports  of  manufactures  from  what  is  now  the 
United  States,  was  the  trials  of  glass  thus  made. 

Stith  states  that  the  glass  house  in  which  the  glass  was  manufactured,  and  which  was  probably  the  first 
manufactory  erected  in  the  English  colonies  in  America,  being  erected  late  in  1608  or  early  in  1609,  stood  in  the 
woods  about  a  mile  from  Jamestown.  This  enterprise  was  one  of  some  daring.  Glass-making  at  this  time  was  by 


a  Stitb's  History  of  Virginia,  page  77.     AVilliamsburfr,  1747. 


1115 


78  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

no  means  well  established,  in  Europe.  Flint-glass  was  not  yet  invented,  and  plate  was  not  cast,  while  the  art  of 
blowing  window-glass  and  bottles  and  making  glassware  was  imperfectly  practiced  in  England.  Wood,  however, 
was  becoming  scarce,  and  the  alkalies  needed  for  the  manufacture  of  glass  high  priced,  and  those  of  a  good  quality 
were  brought  from  a  distance.  All  of  these  materials  were  not  only  abundant  in  the  new  colony,  but  the  wood  was 
a  burden  and  potash  could  be  made  readily  from  the  wood-ashes.  The  great  bulk  of  glass  bottles  made  their 
importation  expensive,  and  it  is'possible  that  the  first  glass  house  in  Virginia  made  bottles  only.  What  window- 
glass  was  used  was  imported. 

The  craze  for  the  raising  of  tobacco,  which  had  such  a  disastrous  effect  upon  the  colony,  interfered  with  glass- 
making,  and  in  1617  Captain  Argall,  on  his  arrival  as  governor,  found  the  glass  house  fallen  to  decay,  (a)  In  1620 
an  attempt  was  made  to  restore  manufactures  to  the  colony,  and  a  large  number  of  artisans  was  sent  to  V.irginia. 
In  1621  a  roll  or  subscription  was  opened  to  raise  funds  for  the  erection  of  a  glass  house  to  make  beads  for  the 
Indian  trade,  and  Captain  Norton  and  some  Italians  were  sent  over  for  that  purpose.  The  subscribers  to  these 
rolls  were  to  participate  in  the  profits.  These  beads  were  currency  among  the  Indians. 

The  London  Company,  in  its  letter  of  July,  1621,  sent  in  the  ship  George,  commended  this  Captain  William 
Norton  to  the  governor.  He  was  directed  to  be  lodged  in  the  Guest  House  with  his  "gange"  until  he  had  found  a 
convenient  place  for  his  furnace,  and  in  the  choice  of  place  care  was  to  be  taken  that  he  and  his  "gange"  be  as 
secure  as  possible  from  surprise,  "so  that  the  commoditie  of  glass  and  beads  should  not  be  vilified  by  too 
common  a  sale  to  the  Indians",  (b)  At  the  time  of  the  massacre,  in  1622,  the  glasshouse  at  Jamestown  was 
destroyed,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  these  Italian  glass-workers  were  massacred,  as  they  must  have  been  had 
their  glass  works  been  at  this  place.  They  are  referred  to  in  June,  1622,  and  again  in  February  20,  1623,  by  the 
governor  and  council  in  a  letter  to  London,  in  which  they  state  that  a  gentleman  who  was  returning  to  London 
would  inform  the  company  what  had  been  done.  This  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  manufacture  of  beads  was 
not  carried  on  at  Jamestown,  but  that  the  house  that  was  destroyed  was  the  first  one. 

What  was  the  history  of  glass  for  some  years  after  this  date  is  not,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  discover,  a 
matter  of  record.  No  doubt  the  colonists  found  that  the  cheapness  of  fuel  and  of  alkali  was  more  than  offset  by 
the  scarcity  and  high  price  of  labor  and  its  tendency  to  seek  other  employment,  and  it  is  probable  that  glass- 
making  was  abandoned. 

The  next  account  of  a  glass  works  in  Virginia  that  I  have  found  is  of  one  that  was  in  existence  in  1787  at 
Alexandria.  M.  De  Warville,  who  visited  this  state  in  the  fall  of  1788,  states  that  this  works  exported  the  previous 
year  glass  to  the  amount  of  10,000  pounds  and  employed  500  hands.  This  is  the  last  notice  of  a  works  in  eastern 
Virginia  until  early  in  the  nineteenth  century.  Mr.  Jarves  states  that  a  Dr.  Adams,  of  Eichmond,  Virginia,  "made 
large  offers  of  increased  wages  to  the  workmen  of  the  Essex-street  works,  who  were  induced  to  abandon  their 
places  of  work  and  violate  their  indentures.  They  succeeded  in  reaching  Eichmond  to  try  their  fortune  under  the 
auspices  of  the  doctor.  A  few  years'  experience  convinced  them  of  the  fallacy  of  increased  pay,  for,  after  very 
heavy  losses,  the  works  were  abandoned  and  the  workmen  thrown  out  of  employ". 

This  is  the  last  record  I  have  been  able  to  find  of  a  glass  works  in  eastern  Virginia,  or  what  is  now  Virginia. 

In  the  census  of  1810  Virginia  does  not  appear  as  a  glass-making  state.  In  1815,  however,  a  glass  works  for 
making  white  flint,  hollow,  and  other  glassware  was  established  at  Wellsburg,  in  the  western  part  of  the  state, 
at  which  glassware  of  an  excellent  quality  was  produced.  In  the  census  of  1820  a  glass  works  is  reported  in 
Brooke  county,  which  was  no  doubt  the  Wellsburg  works.  It  made  that  year  $20,000  worth  of  glass,  had  $12,000 
capital,  and  paid  out  $8,000  for  wages  and  $12,000  for  material  amd  contingent  expenses,  or  exactly  the  value  of 
product.  It  employed  14  men  and  12  youths.  In  1827  it  is  reported  that  glass  decanters  of  great  beauty  and 
solidity  were  made  at  these  works,  "while  white  flint  and  green  glass  wares  made  within  a  few  years  rivaled  the 
foreign." 

At  the  tariff  convention  of  1831  there  were  two  flint-glass  furnaces,  with  12  pots,  reported  in  operation  at 
Wellsburg,  Pennsylvania,  evidently  a  misprint  for  Virginia,  and  one  with  6  pots  at  Wheeling,  Virginia.  Two 
window-glass  works  are  also  reported  at  Wheeling.  In  1840  one  glass  works  is  reported  in  Brooke  county  (the 
Wellsburg),  and  three  in  Ohio  county  (the  Wheeling). 

Eegarding  the  history  of  the  Wheeling  factories,  Mr.  W.  Leighton,  jr.,  in  an  article  contributed  by  him  to  the 
Wheeling  Sunday  Leader  of  March  28,  1880,  in  some  reminiscences,  states  that — 

The  first  glass  factory  built  in  Wheeling  was  for  the  manufacture  of  window-glass,  and  the  business  was  commenced  some  time  in 
the  year  1821.  I  find  in  the  History  of  the  Pan-Handle  that  "in  1829  a  flint-glass  house  was  erected  in  Wheeling  by  John  and  Craig  Ritchie, 
located  on  the  side  of  the  liill  opposite  the  second  ward  market-house.  This  establishment  was  operated  for  several  years  with  great 
activity  and  success,  and  had  a  widespread  reputation  for  the  manufacture  of  fine-cut  glassware.  This  success  and  the  unrivaled: 
advantages  for  procuring  cheap  fuel  at  Wheeling  encouraged  other  firms  to  embark  in  the  business,  and  in  1835  the  Messrs.  Sweeney  put 
a  large  flint-glass  works  into  operation  in  the  northern  part  of  the  town,  which  was  followed  in  the  course  of  the  next  few  years  by  the 
erection  of  another  large  establishment  at  the  extreme  south  end,  built  by  Plunket  &  Miller,  now  owned  and  operated  by  the  firm  of  J. 
H.  Hobbs,  Brockunier  &  Co.". 

a  Captain  Smith,  under  date  of  1615,  states  that  for  a  long  time  the  labor  of  the  colony  had  been  misdirected  in  the  manufacture  «f 
various  articles,  among  them  glass. 

6  Neal' s  Virginia  Company  of  London,  page  231. 
1116 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  79 

The  veteran  glass  manufacturers  of  this  country,  Mr.  J.  L.  Hobbs,  and  his  son  Mr.  J.  H.  Hobbs,  of  the  South  Wheeling  glass  works, 
have  been.  I  believe,  for  a  longer  time  uninterruptedly  running  their  furnaces  than  any  other  glass  manufacturers  in  the  United  States. 
These  gentlemen  came  to  Wheeling  in  1845  and  purchased  the  glass  works  built  by  Messrs.  Plnnket  &  Miller,  since  which  time  there 
has  been  no  break  or  interruption  to  Their  business. 

Whether  or  not  the  introduction  of  glass-making  at  Wheeling  encountered  the  same  difficulties  as  are  described  to  have  met  Mr. 
Bakewell  at  Pittsburgh  I  do  not  find  set  down  in  the  records,  but  the  probabilities  are  that  a  similar  experience  was  had.  The 
factories,  however,  ultimately  surmounted  all  difficulties,  and  went  on  to  good  success.  In  1863  the  Central  Glass  Company  was  established 
by  .1  number  of  workmen  from  the  South  Wheeling  glass  works  and  successfully  operated.  At  later  dates  several  other  factories  have 
been  built  in  this  valley,  among  which  are  the  Belmont  Company  and  Goblet  Company  at  Bellaire,  the  La  Belle  Company  at  Bridgeport, 
and  the  Excelsior  Company  at  Martin's  Ferry.  Beside  these,  window-glass  factories  and  lamp-chimney  houses  have  been  located  here, 
and  the  amount  of  glass  business  in  this  vicinity  is  assuming  year  by  year  greater  proportions. 

The  obvious  reason  for  the  establishment  of  glass  factories  in  Wheeling  has  already  been  mentioned — its  cheap  fuel.  This  has 
always  been  an  important  consideration;  but  the  success  of  glass-making  here  has  not  been  due  to  this  cause  alone  ;  it  owes  much  of  it» 
prosperity  to  the  enterprise  of  those  engaged  in  it.  While  the  first  great  step  of  progress  in  glass-making  in  modern  times,  the  invention 
of  pressing,  is  claimed,  as  before  mentioned,  to  be  American,  so  is  the  second  not  only  American,  but  had  its  origin  here  in  Wheeling. 
This  second  step  was  the  improvement  in  the  composition  of  lime  glass,  which  enabled  manufacturers  to  substitute  that  material  in  place 
of  the  old  flint-glass. 

For  the  manufacture  of  bottles,  wiudow-glass,  jars,  and  shades  in  England  and  on  the  continent  of  Europe  lime  glass  has  always 
been  used,  and  can  boast  an  antiquity  perhaps  as  great  as  that  of  flint-glass.  The  first  factories  in  this  country  made  window-glass,  nsing, 
of  course,  the  lime  composition ;  the  manufacture  of  bottles  followed,  bnt  flint-glass  making  was  commenced,  and,  as  in  Europe,  only 
inferior  grades  of  ware  were  made  of  lime  glass.  In  Pittsburgh,  at  an  early  period,  common  tumblers  and  cheap  table  ware  were  made 
of  lime  glass,  and  some  improvement  had  been  made  in  1864 ;  but  still  the  lime  goods  were  so  much  inferior  to  flint-glass  as  not  to  come  in 
competition  with  it,  their  lack  of  purity  and  luster  being  very  conspicuous  faults. 

lu  the  winter  of  1664  Mr.  William  Leighton,  sr.,  of  the  firm  of  J.  H.  Hobbs,  Brockunier  &  Co.,  made  a  course  of  experiments  in 
the  composition  of  lime  glass,  the  result  of  which  was  so  successful  that  the  manufacture  of  lime  glass  was  commenced  by  his  firm,  and 
ware  was  produced  equaling  in  beamy  the  finest  flint-glass.  The  most  important  feature  in  the  composition  of  this  new  lime  batch  was 
the  use  of  bicarbonate  of  soda  in  place  of  soda-ash,  until  that  time  universally  used  in  lime  glass ;  and  this  use  of  bicarbonate,  and  better 
proportion  of  all  the  materials,  constituted  the  improvement,  and  led  to  the  most  important  results.  As  the  improved  lime  glass  was 
much  cheaper  than  flint-glass,  being  less  than  half  its  cost,  other  factories  commenced  using  the  same  material  and  learned  the  new 
composition.  The  ware  thus  manufactured  could  only  be  distinguished  from  flint-glass  by  its  less  specific  gravity,  and  by  the  peculiar 
tone  of  its  sonnd  when  struck,  the  flint-glass  having  a  full  metallic  tone  or  ring,  while  the  lime  glass  emits  a  dull,  dead  sound,  destitute 
of  vibratory  tone.  From  the  time  of  this  improvement  in  lime  glass  the  flint-glass  factories  began  to  languish.  The  larger  number  of 
them,  perceiving  that  the  era  of  flint-glass  was  past,  gave  up  the  old  composition  and  commenced  the  manufacture  of  bicarbonate  glass, 
as  it  was  then  called".  But  a  few  factories  still  clung  to  the  old  lead-glass  composition,  fondly  hoping,  and  perhaps  believing,  that  lime 
glass  would  run  a  brief  course,  and  that  there  would  be  a  return  to  the  time-honored  flint-glass.  It  soon  became  evident,  however,  that 
lime  glass  had  gained  the  ascendant  by  merits  that  would  stand  the  test  of  time,  and  those  who  still  persevered  in  the  manufacture  01 
lead  glass  found  their  ware  could  no  longer  be  profitably  made,  and  gained  the  experience  that,  in  an  age  of  progress,  whoever  clings  to 
the  methods  of  the  past  will  soon  be  neglected  and  forgotten. 

Beside  advantage  of  cheaper  material,  lime  glass  has  the  property  of  chilling  and  becoming  rigid  more  quickly  than  flint-glass,  thus 
enabling,  and  even  compelling,  the  workmen  to  finish  the  ware  more  rapidly,  and  hence  making  a  greater  production ;  and  as  the  specific 
gravity  of  lime  glass  is  less  than  that  of  flint-glass,  articles  made  of  the  former  have  the  advantage  of  this  lightness  of  weight.  The  result  of 
all  these  advantages,  together  with  improvements  in  furnaces,  tools,  and  methods  of  manufacture,  has  been  to  reduce  the  cost  of  glassware 
to  about  one-fourth  part  of  what  it  was  when  the  invention  and  introduction  of  bicarbonate  glass  took  place  in  1864.  With  this  reduced 
cost,  and  consequent  reduced  price,  the  use  of  glassware  has  been  extended  correspondingly.  New  factories  have  been  built ;  old  factories 
have  increased  their  capacity ;  and  a  snfiicient  supply  of  glassware  has  been  produced  to  meet  the  demand  which  the  reduced  prices  created. 

N~o  kind  of  ware,  even  if  composed  of  the  most  common  materials,  can  now  compete  in  cheapness  with  lime  glass  for  drinking- vessels 
and  table  ware ;  while  for  beauty  of  material,  finish,  shape,  and  ornamentation  glassware  is  more  than  equal  to,  and  for  cleanliness  far 
beyond,  any  other. 

Speakiiig  of  gas  furnaces.  Mr.  Leighton  says: 

Although  Wheeling  took  no  part  in  experimental  gas  furnaces,  yet  as  soon  as  it  became  evident  that  a  safe  form  of  construction  had 
been  reached,  that  form  was  at  once  adopted  here.  The  largest  gas  furnace  for  melting  glass  in  this  country,  and  probably  in  the 
world,  was  built  and  put  into  operation  last  year  by  Messrs.  J.  H.  Hobbs,  Brocknnier  &  Co..  at  theirSonth  Wheeling  glassworks,  and  after 
six  months'  trial  they  were  so  well  satisfied  with  its  results  that  they  put  up  another  of  the  same  form  of  construction,  which  has  just 
been  completed. 

GLASS-MAKING  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 

The  first  mention  of  a  glass  works  in  Pennsylvania  is  found  in  a  letter  written  in  August,  1683,  by  Penn  to  the 
Free  Society  of  Traders.  In  this  letter  he  alludes  to  their  tannery,  saw-mill,  and  glass-house,  "  the  last  two 
conveniently  posted  for  water  carriage."  Where  this  glass  house  was  located,  or  for  what  kind  of  glass  it  was 
intended,  is  not  known;  indeed,  it  is  doubtful  whether  the  works  were  ever  used  for  the  purpose  for  which  they 
were  erected.  If  they  were,  they  proved  unsuccessful,  as  did  most  of  the  early  glass  works  in  the  colonies,  and 
were  soon  abandoned.  («) 

a  Budd,  who  wrote  in  1685.  does  not  mention  them.  Dr.  More's  letter,  printed  in  1687,  mentions  a  number  of  industries,  but  not 
glass-making,  and  the  same  is  true  of  the  pamphlet  printed  some  time  in  1691.  entitled  Lifter*  and  an  Jft«fra<?<  of  Letter*  from  Pennsylvania. 
lu  this  pamphlet  all  the  trades  which  flourished  in  Pennsylvania  are  mentioned,  but  glass  is  not  one  of  them.  Holme,  who  wrote  in 
1689,  and  who  refers  to  a  number  of  trades  that  were  carried  on  in  Pennsylvania,  speaks  of  the  scarcity  of  window-glass.  He  writes : 

The  window-glass  is  often  here 
Exceeding  scarce  and  very  dear, 
So  that  some  in  this  way  do  take 
Isinglass  windows  for  to  make. 


80  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

There  is  a  statement  iu  Bishop's  History  of  American  Manufactures  to  the  effect  that  a  glass  works  was  built 
shortly  after  this  one  at  Frankfort,  neai-  Philadelphia,  by  the  English  Friends  who  settled  there,  but  this  is 
probably  a  mistake,  as  there  were  no  English  Friends  in  Philadelphia  at  so  early  a  date,  (a) 

From  this  time  until  just  before  the  Eevolutiou  the  record  of  glass-making  in  Pennsylvania  is  a  blank.  Governor 
John  Peun,  in  a  letter  to  the  Lords  of  Trade  and  Plantations,  dated  Philadelphia,  January  21,  1767,  wrote : 

The  other  is  a  glass  manufactory,  which  was  erected  about  four  years  ago  in  Lancaster  county,  seventy  miles  from  this  city,  by  a 
private  person.  It  is  still  carried  on,  tho'  to  a  very  inconsiderable  extent,  there  being  no  other  vent  for  their  ware,  which  is  of  a  very 
ordinary  quality,  but  to  supply  the  small  demands  of  the  villages  and  farmers  iu  the  adjacent  inland  country.  (6) 

This  was  probably  Baron  Steigel's  establishment,  referred  to  below,  who  established  himself  at  Manheim 
in  1762;  but  however  this  may  have  been,  there  is  evidence  that  Steigel  soon  after  this  built  a  glass  house. 
In  June  of  the  same  year  that  Penn's  letter  was  written  (1767)  Townsend's  scheme  for  raising  revenue  from  the 
colonies  passed  the  British  parliament  and  was  met  in  this  country  by  a  storm  of  denunciation  and  agreements 
of  non-importation.  At  public  meetings  it  was  determined  to  stimulate  by  all  prudent  ways  and  means  tjie 
manufactures  of  the  colonies,  and  glass  and  paper  were  particularly  mentioned  as  articles  deserving  of  domestic 
encouragement.  Townsend's  revenue  act  was  repealed  in  1770.  At  that  time  a  flint-glass  manufactory  on  a  much 
larger  scale  than  any  before  attempted  in  the  country  had  been  built  at  the  village  of  Mauheim,  near  Lancaster, 
by  a  German  baron,  Eenry  William  Steigel,  and  Mr.  David  Eittenhouse,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Barton,  dated  the  4th 
of  February,  1770,  speaks  of  his  intention  when  he  next  visited  Lancaster  to  have  some  pulse-glasses,  then  just 
introduced  by  Dr.  Franklin  from  Germany,  and  other  things  he  wanted,  made  there.  In  another  letter,  written  in 
the  following  summer,  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  a  barometer  tube  made  at  this  factory,  he  says : 

I  am  obliged  to  you  for  the  glass  tube ;  it  will  make  a  pretty  barometer,  though  the  bore  is  somewhat  too  small.  I  have  compared  i  t 
with  an  English  tube,  and  do  not  think  the  preference  can  with  any  reason  be  given  to  the  latter,  (c) 

This  enterprise  did  not  prove  remunerative,  as  the  war  interfered  with  remittances  from  Europe  and 
embarrassment  ensued,  and  the  glass  works  were  abandoned,  (d) 

About  the  time  that  Steigel  built  his  factory  at  Lancaster  the  first  glass  works  in  Philadelphia  of  which  we 
have  any  details  was  established  at  Kensington.  The  repeal  of  Townsend's  act  did  not  remove  the  determination 
of  the  people  of  the  colonies  to  establish  domestic  manufactures  in  their  limits,  and  though  workmen  skilled  in 
the  manufacture  of  glass  were  by  no  means  common,  some  gentlemen  engaged  in  trades  quite  foreign  to  glass- 
making  were  found  who  were  willing  to  risk  their  capital  in  this  undertaking.  In  October,  1771,  Eobert  Towars, 
skinner  or  leather-dresser,  and  Joseph  Leacock,  watchmaker,  purchased  a  piece  of  laud  on  the  east  side  of  Bank 
street  (now  Richmond  street)  and  built  upon  it  a  glass  house,  furnace,  and  other  improvements,  (e) 

This  works  must  have  begun  the  manufacture  of  glass  late  in  1771  or  early  in  1772,  and  it  certainly  made  green 
bottles,  and  perhaps  flint  ware.  In  Franklin  &  Hall's  Pennsylvania  Gazette  of  January,  1772,  appears  the  following 
advertisement : 

The  glass  facture,  Northern  Liberties,  next  door  .to  the  sign  of  the  Marquis  of  Granby,  in  Market  street,  where  the  highest  price  is 
given  for  broken  flint-glass  and  alkaline  salts. 

This  would  indicate  the  manufacture  of  flint-glass.  The  place  designated  was  the  store  of  Eobert  Towars, 
which  was  in  Market  street,  between  Second  and  Third  streets.  In  November,  1772,  Towars  and  Leacock  sold  the 
premises  to  John  Elliott  and  Samuel  Elliott,  druggists,  who  took  into  partnership  and  interest  Isaac  Gray.  These 
partners  built  an  additional  furnace  and  continued  the  manufacture  of  bottles,  carrying  on  the  business  for  eight 
years,  and  as  the  Elliotts  were  apothecaries  and  Gray  was  a  wine  merchant,  it  may  be  supposed  that  in  this  venture 
the  manufacture  of  bottles  for  use  in  their  business  was  an  object.  The  property  was  sold  in  May,  1780,  to  Thomas 
Leiper,  a  tobacconist,  who  must  have  needed  many  bottles  for  the  reception  of  snuff.  The  latter  was  owner  for 
twenty  years,  and  sold  the  glass  house  on  March  6,  1800,  to  Joseph  Eoberts,  jr.,  James  Butland,  and  James 
Eowland  for  $2,333,  subject  to  £15  ground- rent,  who  carried  on  the  works  under  the  linn  name  of  James  Butland 
&  Co.,  and  iu  1801  had  their  store  at  No.  80  North  Fourth  street.  Eoberts  soon  sold  out  his  one-third  interest  to 
Butland  and  Eowland  for  $2,548,  who  dissolved  partnership  in  1804,  Butland  disposing  of  his  interest  to  Eowland 
for  $2,548,  and  the  latter  advertised  in  1808  that  his  store  for  the  sale  of  bottles  made  at  the  Kensington  glass 
works  was  at  No.  93  North  Second  street.  He  was  also  in  business  as  an  iron  merchant.  James  Eowland  died 
before  the  year  1833,  and  on  July  10  of  that  year  James  Eowlaud,  jr.,  who  had  purchased  the  interest  of  his 
brother,  Joseph  W.  Eowland,  sold  the  works  to  Dr.  Thomas  W.  Dyott. 

Though  the  records  are  very  meager,  there  are  evidences  that  several  other  glass  works  were  built  in  eastern 
Pennsylvania  between  the  breaking  out  of  the  revolutionary  war  and  the  close  of  the  century,  and  no  doubt  the 


a  Mr.  F.  D.  Stone,  the  librarian  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania,  writes  me  that  Pastorious  was  the  agent  of  the  Frankfort 
Land  Company,  and  Bishop  probably  confounds  this  name  with  the  little  town  of  Frankford,  now  a  part  of  Philadelphia. 

6  Pennsylvania  Colonial  Records,  ix,  354. 

<j  Barton's  Memoirs  of  Ritienhouse,  page  206. 

d  In  Franklin  &  Hall's  Pennsylvania  Gazette  for  January,  1772,  in  addition  to  the  advertisement  for  broken  flint-glass,  elsewhere 
referred  to,  is  one  from  the  Southwark  china  factory  for  flint  stones  and  broken  glass.  This  may  have  been  for  "cnllett."  for  the 
Lancaster  works,  or  for  some  other  factory  of  which  we  have  found  no  record. 

e  For  most  of  the  earlier  details  of  this  works  I  am  indebted  to  Thompson  Westcott's  history  of  Philadelphia,  published  in  the 
Philadelphia  Sunday  Dispatch. 
1118 


MANUFACTUEE  OF  GLASS  ,  81 

scarcity  of  glass  during  the  war  led  to  the  erection  of  works  in  this  and  other  states.  That  there  were  glass 
works  of  some  importance  in  Pennsylvania  at  its  close  appears  from  Lord  Sheffield's  letter,  written  shortly  after 
peace  was  declared,  (a)  In  November,  1787,  the  Society  for  the  Encouragement  of  Manufactures  offered  a  gold 
medal  for  the  best  specimens  of  flint  glassware  and  bottles.  It  is  hardly  to  be  supposed  that  a  $20  gold  medal  was 
offered  as  an  inducement  to  parties  to  undertake  the  manufacture  of  flint-glass,  but  rather  as  a  premium  to  works 
already  in  existence  for  the  best  samples  of  their  products,  and  the  fact  that  window-glass  is  not  mentioned  would 
indicate  either  that  window-glass  was  not  made,  or  that  its  manufacture  was  so  well  established  as  not  to  need 
encouragement.  Some  time  between  1780  and  1786  Robert  Morris  and  John  Nicholson  erected  works  at  the  falls  of 
the  Schuylkill  for  the  manufacture  of  some  kind  of  glass,  probably  window-glass.  The  glass  house  was  about 
opposite  the  dwelling  of  Governor  MiflSin,  and  a  row  of  stone  houses  a  little  lower  down  the  river  was  built  to 
accommodate  the  hands  working  in  this  establishment.  John  Thoburn,  about  1808,  altered  the  glass  house  for  the 
purpose  of  a  calico-printing  establishment,  and  the  building  was  still  standing  in  1856.  (b)  Mr.  Eichbaum,  who  had 
charge  of  the  erection  of  the  Craig  &  O'Hara  window-glass  works  at  Pittsburgh  in  1797,  was  "superintendent  of 
glass  works  at  Falls  of  Schuylkill,  near  Philadelphia",  (c) 

Thomas  Harrison,  Philip  Jones,  and  Robert  C.  Martin,  who  were  interested  in  other  business  (which,  however, 
they  did  not  abandon),  invested  a  portion  of  their  capital  in  the  manufacture  of  green  and  flint  glass,  which  they 
made  at  the  glass  house,  South  street,  ,near  the  Schuylkill,  in  1806-'07,  and  manufactured  largely  in  1808  green 
and  white  half-gallon,  quart,  and  pocket  bottles.  This  establishment  consisted  of  a  brick  glass  house,  forty-three 
feet  square,  a  brick  warehouse,  fifty  by  forty-three  feet,  and  a  small  house  and  stable.  Philip  Jones  &  Co.  were 
proprietors  in  1810.  (d)  It  is  doubtful  if  this  ';  white"  glass  could  have  been  what  is  known  as  white  to-day;  for  if 
it  was,  it  must  have  been  made  in  the  same  furnace  as  the  green  glass — a  difficult  operation. 

The  Schuylkill  glass  works,  "two  miles  from  Philadelphia,"  which  were  in  operation  in  1819,  were  the  same 
South  street  works,  and  Edward  Lowber,  drug  and  color  merchant,  at  No.  144  North  Third  street,  had  for  sale  in 
September,  1819,  window-glass  from  those  works.  Caleb  Foulke  was  agent  for  these  works  at  No.  19  Minor  street; 
but  in  1820  George  and  Jacob  Peterman,  flour  merchants,  were  agents,  at  No.  366  High  street,  for  the  Schuylkill 
window-glass  manufactory,  in  South  street,  near  the  Schuylkill  river.  In  May,  1822,  H.  &  W.  Lawrence  advertised 
that  the  Schnylkill  glass  works  were  to  let;  and  in  February,  1823,  George  and  Jacob  Peterman  gave  notice  that 
they  had  again  undertaken  the  "agency  of  the  Schuylkill  glass  works  at  South  street  wharf,  recently  called  the 
Philadelphia  works'',  and  that  they  had  for  sale  window-glass  of  all  sizes,  (d)  Thum  &  Bitters,  of  North  Third 
street,  made,  in  1808,  pint  and  half-pint  pocket  bottles  and  vials,  (d) 

Regarding  the  attempts  to  manufacture  certain  kinds  of  glass  at  this  time  and  later  and  the  causes  of  failure, 
Dr.  T.  W.  Dyott  (e)  states  that  "  the  manufacture  of  ordinary  descriptions  of  glassware,  such  as  apothecaries'  vials 
and  bottles  and  the  common  varieties  so  extensively  used  for  domestic  and  other  purposes,  was  not  successfully 
prosecuted  in  this  country  until  long  after  the  period  of  the  late  war  (1812)". 

Owing  to  the  extravagantly  high  prices  of  imported  vials,  many  efforts  had  been  made  previous  to  this  time 
in  the  county  of  Philadelphia  and  in  the  state  of  New  Jersey  to  establish  this  business,  but  in  all  instances  they 
were  unproductive,  and  were  finally  abandoned,  with  a  heavy  loss  to  those  who  projected  or  were  concerned  in  them. 

A  number  of  causes  interposed  to  prevent  success  in  this  branch  of  industry,  and  the  failure  of  those  who  had  first  attempted  its 
introduction  among  us  afterward  operated  to  discourage  capitalists  from  engaging  in  it.  Our  knowledge  of  the  business  at  this  period 
was  theoretical,  without  practice  ;  and  our  workmen  were  equally  deficient,  having  but  an  imperfect  acquaintance  with  the  mechanical 
part  of  their  profession.  The  metal  of  our  factories  was  inferior  in  quality  and  strength,  yet  produced  from  the  finest  materials  and  by 
the  most  expensive  process ;  the  articles  we  manufactured  were  also  limited  in  quantity  to  one-half  of  what  ought  to  have  been  produced 
out  of  the  same  amount  of  materials,  yet  so  rude  and  shapeless  in  their  appearance  that  purchasers  seldom  could  be  found  if  a  foreign 
article  could  be  obtained.  Daring  the  war  (1812)  I  became  interested  in  a  factory  in  New  Jersey,  which  was  the  first  establishment  that 
continued  in  operation  for  any  number  of  years,  and  which  afterward  became  the  principal  school  of  instruction  to  the  workmen  who 
were  subsequently  employed  in  the  business.  At  a  later  period  two  other  factories  were  established,  and  were  in  successful  operation 
until  after  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  of  peace,  when  they  were  compelled  to  suspend  business,  owing  to  the  importation  of  the  foreign 
article,  which  was  designedly  sacrificed  at  auction  by  the  British  agents,  who  publicly  acknowledged  at  the  time  that  they  were  instructed 
to  sell  at  any  prices  for  the  purpose  of  breaking  up  our  factories.  (/) 

The  furnaces  at  this  time  were  rude  affairs,  designed  to  run  only  about  six  months  in  the  year.  In  1831,  at  the 
date  of  the  tariff  convention,  several  times  referred  to  in  this  report,  the  Dyottville  factory  was  the  most  extensive 
glass  works  in  the  United  States,  consisting  of  iour  furnaces,  melting  about  8,000  pounds  of  batch  a  day,  and 
producing  about  1,200  tons  of  glass  per  year,  which  was  blown  into  apothecaries'  vials,  bottles,  shop  furniture,  etc. 

a  His  statement  is:  "There  are  glass  works  in  Pennsylvania;"  but  he  gives  no  further  particulars.  Had  not  the  works  been  of  some 
importance  he  would  hardly  have  known  of  its  existence. 

6  Early  History  of  the  Falls  of  the  Schuylkill,  etc.,  pp.  33  and  34.     By  Charles  V.  Hagner.     Philadelphia,  1869. 

c  These  works  were  managed  in  179(3  by  Mr.  Nicholson,  as  appears  from  a  manuscript  letter  now  in  my  possession  from  Mr.  Eichbauui 
to  Major  Craig. 

d  Westcott's  history  of  Philadelphia  in  Philadelphia  Sunday  Dispatch. 

e  See  An  Exposition  of  the  System  of  Moral  and  Mental  Labor  Established  at  the  Glass  Factory  of  Dyottville.  By  T.  W.  Dyott,  M.  1>. 
Fb)ladelphia,  1833. 

/  See  Dr.  Dyott's  Exposition. 

1119 


82  MANUFACTUKE  OF  GLASS. 

It  was  stated  that  this  glass  was  composed  of  "  materials  altogether  the  production  of  American  soil,  about  15,000 
barrels  of  rosin  from  North  Carolina  being  annually  consumed  as  fuel  in  preference  to  wood  or  coal".  From  250 
to  300  men  and  boys  were  constantly  employed.  In  1833  this  works  had  five  furnaces,  wood  and  coal,  as  well  as 
rosin,  being  used  for  fuel.  It  may  be  well  to  follow  out  the  history  of  these  works  in  this  place.  They  were 
operated  for  several  years  after  this  until  the  disastrous  failure  and  conviction  of  Dr.  Dyott  in  1838  for  fraudulent 
insolvency,  when  the  works  passed  into  other  hands,  and  after  being  idle  for  some  years,  were  leased  in  1842  by 
Henry  Seybert,  who  became  interested  in  the  glass  business  principally  for  the  purpose  of  assisting  Eugene  Roussel 
in  obtaining  a  supply  of  bottles  for  the  manufacture  of  mineral  or  aerated  water,  then  just  being  introduced  into 
the  United  States.  He  also  made  flint  in  one  furnace.  In  1843  they  were  leased  by  a  partnership,  of  which  Mr. 
Henry  B.  Benners,  the  present  proprietor,  was  a  member.  This  works  is  still  in  operation,  the  oldest  glass  works 
in  Philadelphia,  and  probably  in  the  United  States,  with  a  record  of  one  hundred  and  eleven  years  of  work. 

Returning  to  1810,  the  date  of  the  first  census  of  manufactures,  we  find  reported  in  Pennsylvania,  outside  of 
Allegheny  county,  five  glass  houses — one  in  Philadelphia  city,  two  in  Philadelphia  county,  and  one  each  in  Lycoming 
and  Wayne  counties.  The  value  of  the  product  of  the  Wayne  county  works  is  given  at  $36,000,  while  that  of  the  three 
Philadelphia  works  was  only  $26,000.  The  Lycoming  county  works,  which  was  probably  at  William  sport,  had 
a  product  of  $20,000.  This  would  indicate  that  glass-making  in  Philadelphia  was  not  a  prosperous  business.  •  At 
the  census  of  1820  but  one  works  is  reported  in  Philadelphia  county,  "a  flint-glass  works,  that  had  been  out  of 
operation  for  some  years  ",  while  in  Wayne  county  a  window-glass  works,  with  one  furnace  and  six  pots,  is  reported, 
which  had  been  "in  operation  for  five  years  with  good  success".  Jarves  also  states  that  in  1820  a  number  of 
workmen  left  the  New  England  Glass  Company  at  East  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  and  established  a  co-operative 
flint-glass  works  at  Kensington  under  the  title  of  the  Union  Flint  Glass  Company;  but  after  a  few  years  this  works 
passed  into  other  hands,  and  the  first  recorded  attempt  at  co-operative  glass-making  in  this  country  failed. 

In  1831,  as  already  stated,  the  Dyottville  works  were  the  most  extensive  in  the  country.  There  was  also  in 
Philadelphia  a  flint-glass  works  with  six  pots.  No  mention  is  made  of  the  Wayne  county  works  at  this  time,  though 
it  appears  at  the  census  of  1840.  There  were,  however,  two  works  in  Lycoming  county,  at  Williamsport,  one  for 
the  manufacture  of  window  glass  and  the  other  for  hollow  ware  (green  glass,  etc.).  In  1840,  according  to  the  census, 
there  were  but  two  glass  works  in  the  eastern  district  of  Pennsylvania:  one  in  Philadelphia  and  one  in  Wayne 
county.  But  it  is  not  necessary  to  follow  the  history  of  glass  in  this  section  further.  While  there  has  been  glass 
made  in  increasing  quantities  in  eastern  Pennsylvania  since  1840,  the  industry  has  not  attained  the  importance  it 
has  reached  west  of  the  mountains.  It  may  be  interesting  to  state,  however,  that  though  window-glass  was  at  one 
time  made  in  Philadelphia,  none  has  been  made  in  that  city  for  seven  years. 

Of  early  glass-making  in  western  Pennsylvania  quite  full  accounts  remain,  and  at  least  four  of  those  connected 
with  the  earliest  works,  Albert  Gallatin,  Colonel  James  O'Hara,  Major  Isaac  Craig,  and  Major  Ebenezer  Denny, 
were  prominent  in  the  affairs  of  the  nation.  Their  journals  and  papers  have  been  saved  from  the  destruction  or 
oblivion  that  usually  overtakes  such  documents,  and  from  these  very  satisfactory  statements  of  these  early 
undertakings  can  be  obtained. 

The  generally  received  opinion  for  some  years  has  been  that  the  first  glass  works  west  of  the  Allegheny 
mountains  was  built  by  Albert  Gallatin  at  his  settlement  of  New  Geneva,  on  the  Monongahela  river,  some  90 
miles  south  of  Pittsburgh.  Here  Mr.  Gallatin  established  a  number  of  industries,  and  among  them  that  of  glass- 
making.  Various  dates  have  been  assigned  to  his  glass  works,  the  most  common  one  being  1787;  but  the  evidence 
is  quite  conclusive  that  this  is  an  error,  and  that  the  works  was  not  started  until  1797.  («) 

Not  only  is  the  date  usually  assigned  to  this  works  incorrect,  but  it  is  very  probable  that  it  is  not  entitled 
to  the  credit  of  being  the  first  west  of  the  Alleghenies,  Craig  &  O'H.ira  making  glass  about  a  month  earlier,  (b) 
As  the  Gallatin  works  was  isolated  and  so  remained,  not  forming,  as  did  Craig  &  O'Hara's,  the  nucleus  of  a  great 
industry,  it  may  be  well,  though  it  was  not  the  earliest,  to  give  its  history  first,  that  the  account  of  the  works  at 
Pittsburgh  may  be  a  connected  one. 

The  Gallatin  works  was  used  for  the  manufacture  of  window-glass.  The  furnace  was  a  small  one,  with  eight 
pots,  using  wood  as  a  fuel  and  "  ashes  for  alkali" .  The  glass  house  was  40  by  40  feet,  three  sides  frame  and  one  side 
stone.  The  most  credible  story  regarding  its  erection  is  that  a  number  of  glass- workers,  mostly  Germans,  left 
Amelung's  factory  (c)  at  Fredericktown,  Maryland,  and  crossed  the  mountains  for  the  purpose  of  building  a  glass 
works  at  the  point  that  is  now  Louisville,  Kentucky.  Gallatiu  accidentally  met  them  at  Wheeling  and  persuaded 

a  In  Adams'  Life  of  Gallatin,  Philadelphia,  1879,  it  is  stated  that  the  business  of  "glass-making  "  at  New  Geneva  began  "  during  Mr. 
Gallatiu's  absence  in  the  spring  of  1797  ".  This  is  confirmed  by  Mr.  Isaac  Craig.  (See  note  below.) 

6  I  am  informed  by  Mr.  Isaac  Craig,  of  Pittsburgh,  the  grandson  of  Major  Craig,  who  has  iu  his  possession  many  of  the  letters  that 
passed  between  Major  Craig  and  Colonel  O'Hara  on  the  subject  of  the  glass  works,  and  who  is  one  of  the  best  authorities  on  the  history 
of  western  Pennsylvania  living,  that  as  the  result  of  a  correspondence  between  himself,  Mr.  Henry  Adams,  the  author  of  the  Life  of 
Gallatin,  before  referred  to,  and  a  son  of  Mr.  Gallatin,  he  is  convinced  that  the  Craig  &  O'Hara  works  began  to  make  glass  a  month 
easier  than  Gallatin's.  The  Pittsburgh  works  began  in  1797  without  doubt,  and  this  would  fix  the  date  of  Gallatin's  as  1797  also.  Mr. 
Craig  has  kindly  allowed  me  free  access  to  his  grandfather's  letter-books. 

c  See  account  of  this  works  under  "Glass-making  iu  Maryland".  It  is  probable  that  Mr.  Ameluug  was  at  one  time  a  glass- worker 
at  Pittsburgh.  In  Ciimiuimfs  Journal,  about  1807,  mention  is  made  of  A.  F.  Ameluug,  a  glass-worker  in  Pittsburgh. 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  83 

them  to  turii  back  to  New  Geneva  and  establish  the  works  there.  Mr.  Gallatin  agreeing  to  furnish  capital  and  they 
to  do  the  blowing,  (a)  The  title  of  the  firm  at  first  was  Gallatin  &  Co.,  but  it  was  afterward  changed  to  the  New 
Geneva  glass  works. 

For  a  time  the  business  was  exceedingly  profitable,  more  so,  Mr.  Adams  tells  us,  than  any  other  of  Mr. 
Gallatiu's  enterprises,  (b)  There  were  but  two,  possibly  three,  other  window-glass  factories  in  the  country,  most  of 
the  window-glass  used  coming  from  England.  These  works,  as  well  as  Craig  &  O'Hara's.  were  on  or  near  the  route 
.  of  travel  between  the.  East  and  the  rapidly  developing  West,  and  the  glass  commanded  a  ready  market.  There  seems 
'to  have  been  considerable  discussion  between  Mr.  Gallatin  and  his  partners,  among  whom  were  a  Mr.  Nicholson 
and  two  brothers  by  the  name  of  Kramer,  who  were  skilled  workmen  and  had  charge  of  the  manufacturing  of  the 
glass,  as  to  the  price  at  which  it  should  be  sold,  and  it  was  fixed  at  $14  a  box  of  100  feet,  (c)  though  Mr.  Gallatin, 
fearing  ruinous  competition  by  reason  of  the  profit  at  this  price,  favored  a  lower  rate.  The  glass,  however,  by 
reason  of  the  character  of  the  materials  used,  was  probably  of  an  inferior  quality.  The  works  was  removed  in  1807 
to  the  other  side  of  the  Monongahela  river,  and  in  1814  it  was  operated  by  Nicholson  &  Co.  (d)  As  late  as  1832  a 
glass  house  was  reported  at  New  Geneva,  and  glass  was  made  some  years  later  than  this.  When  the  works  was 
finally  abandoned  I  have  not  been  able  to  learn. 

In  1796  preliminary  steps  were  taken  by  Major  Isaac  Craig  and  Colonel  James  O'Hara  toward  the  erection  of 
the  first  glass  house  at  Pittsburgh,  (e)  This  was  also  the  first  works  west  of  the  mountains  to  make  glass.  Mr. 
Peter  William  Eichbaum,  a  German  glass-worker,  who  was  superintendent  of  glass  works  at  the  Falls  of  the 
Schnylkill,  near  Philadelphia,  being  engaged  to  direct  their  erection.  (/)  Various  causes  delayed  the  work, 
and  it  was  not  until  1797  that  the  active  work  of  building  the  furnace  was  begun,  when,  as  appears  from  a  letter 
written  June  12  of  that  year  by  Major  Craig  to  Colonel  O'Hara,  (g)  search  for  coal  in  the  upper  part  of  what  is  now 
Allegheny  City  not  showing  a  vein  of  workable  thickness,  a  location  on  Coal  Hill,  on  the  south  side  of  the 
Monongahela  river,  just  above  where  it  unites  with  the  Allegheny  to  form  the  Ohio,  was  purchased,  and  the  erection 
of  the  furnace  was  begun.  This  site,  or  part  of  it,  has  ever  since  been  continuously  occupied  by  a  glass  house,  the 
Point  Bridge  works  of  Thomas  Wightman  &  Co.  occupying  it  at  present. 

This  was  one  of  the  first,  if  not  the  first  works  in  the  United  States  to  use  coal  as  a  fuel ;  (h)  indeed,  as  late 
as  1810  coal  was  not  used  in  any  glass  works  in  this  country  but  the  Pittsburgh  houses,  (i)  It  was  not  the  force  01 
circumstances  or  Irck  of  wood  that  led  to  the  use  of  coal,  but  it  was  the  deliberate  design  of  the  promoters  of  this 
enterprise  to  melt  their  glass  with  coal,  and  it  was  the  character  of  the  coal  in  Coal  hill  that  determined  the  location 
of  the  works,  (j )  The  use  of  coal  in  the  state  of  the  art  at  this  time  required  considerable  determination  and  risk, 
and  it  is  to  the  credit  of  these  gentlemen  that  they  dared  use  it. 

The  generally  received  belief  that  this  was  the  first  glass  works  in  Pittsburgh  was  called  in  question  a  few 
years  since  by  the  statement  that  in  1795  there  was  a  window-glass  works,  known  as  "Scott's",  at  Glass  House 
riffle,  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Monongahela.  (I;)  This  is  without  doubt  an  error.  Mr.Neville  B.  Craig,  in  his  History 
of  Pittsburgh,  speaks  of  the  O'Hara  works  as  "  the  first  glass  house  here",  and  as  his  memory  went  back  distinctly 
to  1796,  if  not  earlier,  it  is  hardly  possible  he  would  not  have  known  of  this  "  Scott's"  works  if  it  existed  in  1795. 
It  is  probable  that  the  works  referred  to  was  the  "Ohio"  works,  built  about  1800  by  Denny  &  Beelen,  which 
was  on  the  north  side  of  the  Ohio,  and  which  gave  the  name  to  Glass  House  riffle,  as  it  appears  from  a  letter  of 
Major  Craig's,  in  connection  with  the  experiment  of  Mr.  Price,  that  Dr.  Hugh  Scott,  from  whom  it.  got  its  name, 

a  History  of  Fayette  County,  Pennsylvania.     Philadelphia,  1882. 

6  Life  of  GaUatin,  p.  176.  Sir.  Adams  writes  me,  however,  that  the  glass  works  were  "a  constant  matter  of  anxiety"  to  Mr. 
Gallatin. 

c  This  does  uot  seem  so  extravagant,  a  price  when  it  is  known  that  at  the  census  of  1810,  when  there  were  at  least  fifteen  works  in 
the  country  making  about  5,000,000  square  feet  of  window-glass  a  year,  the  marshals  estimated  the  value  of  the  glass  at  16  cents  a  square 
foot.  * 

d  Cramer's  Navigator,  8th  ed.,  p.  40.     Pittsburgh,  1814. 

e  History  of  Pittsburgh,  p.  27(5.     By  Neville  B.  Craig.     Pittsburgh,  1851. 

/  I  have  before  me  a  letter  from  Mr.  Eichbaum  to  Major  Craig,  dated  Falls  of  the  Schuylkill,  August  18,  1796,  from  which  it  appears 
that  negotiations  had  been  in  progress  for  some  time  between  these  gentlemen  looking  to  the  building  of  the  glass  house,  and  "four 
different  sorts  of  clay"  from  near  Pittsburgh  had  been  sent  Mr.  Eichbaum  for  his  judgment  as  to  their  adaptability  for  pot-making.  He 
writes  they  "  do  not  look  amiss"  with  the  exception  of  some  roots,  and  gives  directions  for  the  digging  and  ripening  of  20  or  25  tons 
weight.  This  letter  is  iu  answer  to  one  from  Major  Craig,  of  June  6,  1796,  in  which  he  had  evidently  made  a  proposition  to  Mr.  Eichbaum 
to  go  to  Pittsburgh,  which  the  latter  accepts  conditionally  if  Messrs.  Craig  &  O'Hara's  resolve  to  build  glass  works  is  "absolutely  fixed ". 

g  Craig's  History  of  Pittsburgh,  pp.  276,  277. 

h  Gallatin's  works  used  wood,  as  did  Denny  &  Beelen's,  the  third  west  of  the  mountains. 

i  See  Gallatin's  Report  on  Manufactures  in  1810. 

j  The  Glass  House  riffle  works  referred  to  below  used  wood,  its  location  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Ohio  rendering  this  necessary. 

k  See  Pittsburgh  an  It  Is,  by  George  H.  Thurston,  Pittsburgh,  1857 ;  also  Bishop's  History  of  American  Manufactures,  which  probably 
follows  Thurston.  Mr.  Thurston's  authority  is  a  statement  of  the  late  Mr.  William  McCully,  a  well-known  Pittsburgh  glass  manufacturer, 
who  learned  the  trade  of  window-glass  blowing  in  the  Craig  &  O'Hara  glass  house.  I  think  there  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  Mr.  Thurston 
either  misunderstood  Mr.  McCully,  or  that  Mr.  McCnlly  was  mistaken.  Mr.  Mark  Watson,  Mr.  McCnlly's  son-in-law  and  his  successor  in 
business,  authorizes  the  statement  that  in  their  many  conversations  on  the  subject  Mr.  McCully  always  spoke  of  the  Craig-O'Hara  house 
as  the  first.  Mr.  Isaac  Craig  also  states  that,  as  early  as  1845,  Mr.  McCully  told  him  that  the  Craig  &  O'Hara  works  was  the  first. 
71  M  M 


84  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

was  in  1800  connected  with  this  works.  There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  the  Craig  &  O'Hara  works  was 
the  first  glass  works  not  only  in  Pittsburgh,  but  west  of  the  mountains,  and  was  the  pioneer  of  Pittsburgh's 
glass  industry. 

The  building  erected  was  frame,  and  contained  an  eight-pot  window-glass  furnace  using  coal  as  fuel,  three  boxes 
being  made  at  a  blowing,  the  box  at  that  time  containing  100  square  feet.  What  is  now  known  as  a  box,  50  square 
feet,  was  formerly,  even  as  late  as  1860,  termed  "half  box  (H.  B.)",  and  the  rates  of  wages  for  blowing  are  still  based 
on  the  box  of  100  feet.  Some  idea  of  the  pots  in  this  pioneer  factory  can  be  obtained  from  the  output.  A  box  of 
100  feet  did  not  probably  exceed  125  pounds  in  weight,  which  would  give  375  pounds  as  the  finished  product  of  the 
blowing  or  of  one  blower  at  each  melting,  and  allowing  that  the  weight  of  product  was  four-fifths  of  the  weight  of 
batch,  the  amount  of  material  charged  into  each  pot  would  be  but  500  pounds.  Xow  the  weight  of  batch  in  each 
pot  will  average  1,500  pounds,  and  the  average  of  a  blower  is  nine  to  ten  boxes  of  100  feet.  An  old  glass 
manufacturer  expresses  this  difference  in  the  size  of  the  pots  very  graphically  in  saying :  "  One  man  could  easily 
lift  an  old-style  pot,  now  it  takes  four  men." 

As  was  generally  the  custom  in  the  window-glass  houses  of  that  day,  one  or  more  pots  in  the  furnace  were  used 
for  the  manufacture  of  bottles — "hollow  ware,"  as  they  were  termed.  Among  Colonel  O'Hara's  papers,  found  after 
his  death,  was  a  memorandum  in  his  handwriting  stating,  "  To-day  we  made  the  first  bottle,  at  a  cost  of  $30,000."  («.) 
This  remark  has  led  to  the  belief  that  the  works  was  a  bottle  house,  but  it  was  a  window-glass  factory,  making 
some  bottles.  The  partnership  between  Craig  and  O'Hara  lasted  for  seven  years,  when  Major  Craig  was  persuaded 
by  his  relatives,  who  feared  financial  loss,  to  withdraw,  (b)  The  works  were  continued  by  Colonel  O'Hara. 

The  difficulty  and  expense  connected  with  this  first  attempt  at  glass-making  west  of  the  mountains  were 
such  as  must  have  discouraged  a  less  determined  man  than  Major  Craig,  who  seems  to  have  had  the  immediate 
management  of  the  works,  he  being  in  Pittsburgh  most  of  the  time,  while  Colonel  O'Hara's  other  interests  cal  led 
him  frequently  from  Pittsburgh.  The  men  employed  as  superintendent  and  blowers  did  not  always  prove  to  be 
as  highly  skilled  as  their  own  assertions  would  have  indicated,  and  many  of  the  workmen  seem  to  have  been  petulant, 
easily  angered,  and  constantly  threatened  to  leave  the  works.  For  some  such  reason  as  this,  in  December,  1798, 
the  works  were  leased  to  Eichbaum,  Wendt  &  Co.,  a  firm  composed  of  workmen  who  do  not  seem  to  have  been  very 
successful  financially.  Great  trouble  was  experienced  also  in  obtaining  the  proper  materials.  The  cl&y  which  was 
found  in  the  neighborhood,  and  which,  as  appears  from  a  letter  previously  quoted,  was  supposed  to  be  of  the 
proper  quality  to  make  pots,  proved  unfit  for  use,  and  clay  had  to  be  brought  from  New  Jersey  in  barrels  over  the 
mountains  at  great  expense,  and  frequently  the  delays  were  so  great  that  the  furnace  had  to  go  out  of  blast  for 
want  of  pots.  When  the  clay  came  the  whole  force  would  be  put  to  work  making  pots,  which  would  be  dried 
hurriedly,  and  the  furnace  would  be  put  in  blast  again  with  the  result  that  every  glass-maker  of  to  day  would 
have  anticipated — the  pots  were  lost.  In  one  case,  in  an  8-pot  furnace,  three  pots  were  lost  at  the  first  melting, 
and  the  next  day  four  more,  leaving  but  one  in  the  furnace.  Great  trouble  was  also  experienced  in  getting  sand, 
and  Major  Craig's  letters  constantly  refer  to  the  different  localities  from  which  specimens  were  procured  and  the 
success  in  their  use. 

The  trials  and  the  results  obtained  at  this  works  are  set  forth  in  the  following  letter,  dated  August  5,  1803, 
written  by  Major  Craig  to  Samuel  Hodgson,  of  Philadelphia: 

With  respect  to  our  glass  manufacturing,  the  establishment  has  been  attended  with  greater  expense  than  we  had  estimated.  This  has 
beon  occasioned  partly  by  very  extensive  buildings  necessarily  erected  to  accommodate  a  number  of  people  employed  in  the  manufacture, 
together  with  their  families,  and  partly  by  the  ignorance  of  some  people  in  whose  skill  of  that  business  we  reposed  too  much  confidence. 
Scarcity  of  some  of  the  materials  at  the  commencement  of  the  manufacturing  was  also  attended  with  considerable  expense.  We  have, 
however,  by  perseverance  and  attention,  brought  the  manufacture  to  comparative  perfection.  During  the  last  blast,  which  commenced 
at  the  beginning  of  January  and  continued  six  months,  we  made  on  an  average  thirty  boxes  a  week  of  excellent  window-glass,  beside 
bottles  and  other  hollow  ware  to  the  amount  of  one-third  of  the  value  of  the  window-glass,  8  by  10  selliug  at  $13  50,  10  by  12  at  $15,  and 
other  sizes  in  proportion. 

In  the  fall  of  1800  the  "  commissioner  of  the  city  of  Washington  ",  then  just  made  the  seat  of  government, 
applied  to  Craig  &  O'Hara  to  make  for  the  public  buildings  some  glass  of  larger  sizes  than  had  ever  been  produced 
in  this  country,  but  the  attempt  was  unsuccessful.  Glass  of  the  size  required,  to  the  extent  of  some  400  square  feet, 
was  made  "of  a  transparency  tolerably  good  ",  but  it  was  too  uneven  for  the  purpose,  or  was  spoiled  in  flattening, 
and  the  glass  required  was  obtained  from  England. 

The  second  glass  house  built  in  the  vicinity  of  Pittsburgh,  and  the  third  west  of  the  mountains,  was  that  of  Denny 
&  Beelen.  This  factory  was  situated  on  the  north  side  of  the  Ohio  river,  in  that  part  of  Allegheny  now  known 
as  Manchester,  and  gave  the  name  to  Glass-House  riffle  on  the  Ohio,  (c)  It  used  wood  as  fuel,  its  location  being 
such  that  coal  could  not  be  procured  without  boating  it  across  the  river  from  the  south  side  of  the  Monongahela, 
while  wood  was  easily  procurable.  The  exact  date  of  the  erection  of  this  works  has  not  been  ascertained,  though 

a  Military  Journal  of  Major  Ebenezer  Denny,  p.  487.       o  Craig's  History  of  Pittsburgh,  p.  278.      c  Major  Denny's  Journal,  p.  228. 
1122 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  85 

it  was  probably  built  in  1800.  (a)  Window-glass  was  made,  whether  crown  or  blown  is  not  certain,  though  there 
is  a  legend  that  an  attempt  was  made  to  manufacture  the  former.  A  Frenchman  by  the  name  of  La  Fleur,  commonly 
known  as  "  Falure",  was  brought  to  this  country  to  have  charge  of  the  works;  but  they  were  unsuccessful  from 
the  first,  and  being  compelled  to  cease  operations  after  a  short  run,  the  furnace  was  abandoned,  La  Fleur  entered 
the  employ  of  Craig  &  O'Hara,  and  Beelen  (b)  gave  up  the  glass  business. 

As  has  already  been  stated,  the  manufacture  of  green-glass  bottles,  or  "hollow  ware",  was  carried  on  in  these 
early  glass  houses  in  connection  with  that  of  window-glass,  the  "corner  pots"  in  the  window-glass  furnaces  being 
used  for  the  manufacture  of  bottles  and  flasks.  The  history  of  the  manufacture  of  bottles  in  the  West  is,  therefore, 
for  many  years  the  history  of  the  window-glass  works.  It  was  nearly  forty  years  before  furnaces  for  making 
bottles  exclusively  were  built,  and  the  records  of  the  make  of  glass  at  Pittsburgh  and  of  the  works  in  that  city  as 
late  as  1837  combine  window-glass  and  green  glass  or  bottles  as  one  branch  of  manufacture.  In  1837  there  is  a 
record  of  a  "vial  works"  and  a  "black-bottle  factory",  (c)  the  latter  "the  only  one  of  the  kind  in  the  western 
country  ".  This  factory  made  wine,  porter,  and  other  black  or  amber  bottles,  as  well  as  demijohns  and  carboys.  The 
custom  of  using  the  "  corner  pot"  for  bottles  is  now  entirely  discontinued  in  this  section,  bottle  manufacture  being 
a  distinct  branch  of  the  glass  industry. 

The  first  attempt  to  manufacture  flint-glass  west  of  the  Alleghenies  was  made  in  Craig  &  O'Hara's  window- 
glass  furnace  in  September  or  October,  1800,  by  Mr.  William  Price,  of  London,  who  had  then  lately  arrived  in  this 
country,  and  who  "had  been  employed  altogether  in  flint-glass".  September  5,  1800,  Major  Craig  wrote  Colonel 
O'Hara  that  Mr.  Price  had  arrived,  and  had  "offered  to  show  us  a  specimen  of  his  abilities  without  charge",  and 
arrangements  were  made  with  Eichbaum,  Wendt  &  Co.,  who  were  operating  the  works  under  lease,  to  allow  him 
the  use  of  a  pot  in  the  furnace  and  such  assistance  as  he  needed  to  make  the  experiment.  On  September  11, 1800, 
"one  hundred  pounds  of  pearlash,  refined  in  the  best  manner,  so  that  it  may  be  perfectly  pure,  as  it  is  to  be  applied 
in  the  composition  of  crystal  glass  by  a  man  just  from  London",  was  ordered  from  Aaron  Alma's,  at  Funk's  tavern, 
on  Franklin  road.  October  29, 1800,  Major  Craig  sent  a  specimen  of  glass  made  by  Mr.  Price  to  Colonel  O'Hara, 
and  on  November  17, 1800,  in  a  letter  to  Colonel  O'Hara,  which  he  sent  by  Price,  he  wrote:  "  He  [Price]  has  satisfied 
me,  as  well  as  others,  that  his  ability  in  white-glass  manufacturing  is  equal  to  his  professions." 

These  extracts  from  Major  Craig's  letters  leave  no  doubt  but  that  at  this  early  date  an  attempt  was  made  to 
produce  flint-glass  in  Pittsburgh,  and,  further,  that  the  advisability  of  building  a  furnace  for  its  manufacture  was 
seriously  considered.  Mr.  Craig  writes  that  he  had  hopes  that  some  part  of  the  window-glass  house  could  have 
been  used  for  the  manufacture  of  flint-glass,  but  Price  told  him  it  could  not  be  done.  Major  Craig  seems  to  have 
had  some  doubt  as  to  obtaining  workmen  and  materials,  and  also  as  to  whether  the  business  would  pay ;  but  Mr. 
Price  was  instructed  to  make  an  estimate  of  the  articles  needed  and  drafts  of  buildings,  and  submit  them  to  Colonel 
O'Hara.  No  thing  seems  to  have  come  from  this  attempt  at  the  time.  A  careful  examination  of  Mr.  Craig's  letter- 
books  gives  no  evidence  of  the  prosecution  of  flint-glass  manufacture,  and  as  late  as  1803,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  letter 
previously  quoted,  flint-glass  was  not  made  at  these  works. 

There  is,  however,  a  statement  that  should  be  quoted  in  this  connection,  to  the  effect  that  in  1802  Colonel 
O'Hara  built  an  additional  furnace  at  his  works  and  attempted  to  establish  the  manufacture  of  white  and  flint 
glass,  sending  an  agent  to  England  to  procure  the  necessary  workmen ;  but  this  agent  is  reported  to  have  failed  in 
his  mission,  (d)  I  have  not  been  able  to  verify  this  statement,  and  a  careful  examination  of  Major  Craig's  letter- 
books  of  1802  and  1803  gives  no  evidence  of  the  existence  of  such  a  house,  though  they  refer  quite  at  length  to 
Mr.  Price's  attempt  at  flint-glass  making  and  to  Mr.  Edward  Ensell,  who  afterward  built  a  flint-glass  works.  Nor  is 
any  evidence  of  the  existence  of  such  a  works  found  in  Cramer's  Almanacks.  In  the  Altnanack  for  1807  O'Hara's 
"glass  factory"  is  mentioned,  not  his  factories,  as  would  have  been  the  case  were  he  making  both  flint-  and 
window-glass,  these  requiring  separate  furnaces,  (e)  In  the  Almanack  for  1808,  which  would  give  the  establishments 
for  1807,  the  only  glass  works  mentioned  is  "1  green-glass  works".  In  the  Almanack  for  1809  Kobinson  &  Ensell's 
works  appears  for  the  first  time,  and  is  the  only  "white-glass"  works,  and  the  first  one,  mentioned. 

In  Cramer's  Almanack  for  1804,  among  the  amounts  for  each  article  made  from  raw  material  in  Pittsburgh  in 
1803  are  mentioned  "jars,  decanters,  tumblers,  blue  glass".  It  has  been  argued  that  this  proved  the  existence  of  a 
flint-glass  house  at  Pittsburgh,  as  tumblers  and  decanters  would  hardly  be  made  out  of  green  glass ;  but  this  supposition 

a  The  memoir  prefixed  to  Major  Denny's  Journal,  page  P28,  states  that  they  were  built  "  about  the  beginning  of  the  present  century''. 
In  a  letter  from  Major  Craig  to  Colonel  O'Hara,  dated  March  20,  1801,  he  writes,  referring  to  this  factory :  "The  Ohio  glass  works  have 
stopped."  These  two  statements  would  fix  the  date  at  least  as  early  as  1800,  and  it  seems  from  a  number  of  letters  that  they  were  built 
in  that  year. 

6  Beelen  was  a  Belgian,  son  of  the  Austrian  minister  "Baron  de  Belen  Bartholf ". — Denny's  Journal,  p.  228.  It  thus  appears  that 
in  the  early  glass  works  of  Pittsburgh  were  represented  the  chief  glass-making  countries  of  Europe. 

c  Lyford's  Western  Directory.    These  houses  were  on  the  south  side,  and  have  been  known  in  recent  years  as  "  IhmsenV. 

d  Thurston's  Pittsburgh  and  Allegheny  in  the  Centennial  Year,  p.  128;  also,  Bishop's  History  of  American  Manufactures,  vol.  ii,  p.  96. 

e  A  flint-pot  could  not  have  been  used  successfully  in  the  window-glass  furnace,  as  pots  for  bottle-making  were,  the  method  of 
working  precluding  this.  -,„ 


86  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

i 

is  not  borne  out  by  the  facts,  as  green-glass  tumblers  and  decanters  were  quite  common  at  that  time,  (a)  In  the 
Almanack  for  1804  also  appears  the  oft-quoted  statement  about  glass-cutting  "  equal  to  any  cut  in  the  states  of 
Europe"  which  was  carried  on  at  Pittsburgh,  and  it  has  been  claimed  that  this  indicated  the  presence  of  a 
flint-glass  house.  The  amount  reported  cut,  $500  a  year,  and  the  fact  that  the  specimens  of  Mr.  Eichbaum's  skill 
at  this  early  date  seem  to  have  been  chandeliers,  the  beautiful  clear  glass  of  the  prisms  of  which  could  hardly  have 
been  made  in  Pittsburgh,  indicate  that  the  glass  came  from  east  of  the  mountains,  if  not  from  Europe.  The 
evidence  I  have  found  is  against  the  existence  of  such  a  works,  (ft) 

If  such  a  factory  as  is  mentioned  ever  existed,  it  must  have  been  short-lived  and  of  but  little  note,  and  cannot 
be  regarded  as  marking  the  beginning  of  the  flint-glass  industry  in  Pittsburgh,  which  dates  from  1808.  In  the  fall 
of  1807  (c)  Mr.  George  Robinson,  a  carpenter  by  trade,  and  Mr.  Edward  Ensell,  an  English  glass-worker,  who  had 
been  a  manufacturer  of  both  window-  and  flint-glass  at  Birmingham,  England,  and  had  sold  his  works  and  come 
u>  this  country  to  better  his  condition,  commenced  the  erection  of  a  flint-glass  works  at  Pittsburgh,  on  the  bank  of 
the  Monongahela,  at  the  foot  of  Grant  street,  under  the  firm  name  of  Eobinson  &  Ensell ;  but  the  partners  appear  to 
have  lacked  capital  and  were  unable  to  finish  the  works,  and  the  establishment,  in  an  incomplete  state,  was  offered 
for  sale,  probably  without  having  made  any  glass. 

In  August,  1808,  Mr.  Thomas  Bakewell  and  his  friend,  Mr.  Page,  who  were  visiting  Pittsburgh  at  the  time, 
were  induced  to  purchase  the  works  on  the  representation  of  Mr.  Ensell  that  he  thoroughly  understood  the 
business.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  firm  of  Bakewell  &  Page,  that  by  itself  and  successors  has  continued 
the  manufacture  of  flint-glass  to  the  present,  Bakewell,  Pears  &  Co.,  their  direct  successors,  reporting  to  the  present 
census,  (d) 

Mr.  Bakewell  soon  found  that  the  representations  made  to  him  as  to  the  skill  of  the  workmen  he  relied  upon 
were  not  borne  out,  and  he  was  forced  to  rely  upon  his  own  good  judgment  and  his  diligence  in  obtaining  information 
about  the  business.  The  difficulties  he  met  with  would  have  disheartened  a  less  determined  man,  and  the  lack  of  skill 
on  the  part  of  his  workmen  and  the  inferiority  of  the  material  interfered  at  first  with  his  success.  His  furnace 
was  badly  constructed;  his  workmen  were  not  highly  skilled,  and  would  not  permit  the  introduction  of  apprentices, 
and  his  materials  were  procured  from  a  distance  at  a  time  when  transportation  was  difficult  and  expensive,  pearlash 
and  red  lead  coming  from  Philadelphia,  and  pot-clay  from  Burlington,  New  Jersey,  all  being  transported  over  the 
mountains  in  wagons.  The  sand  was  obtained  near  Pittsburgh,  but  was  yellowish,  and  up  to  this  time  had  only 
been  used  for  window-  and  bottle-glass ;  the  saltpeter  from  the  caves  of  Kentucky  until  1825,  when  the  supply  was 
obtained  from  Calcutta.  These  difficulties  were  in  time  overcome.  Good  clay  was  procured  from  Holland,  and 
purer  materials  were  discovered;  and  he  rebuilt  his  furnaces  on  a  better  plan,  competent  workmen  being  either 
instructed  or  brought  from  Europe,  and  through  his  energy  and  perseverance  the  works  became  eminently  successful. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Mr.  Bakewell  is  entitled  to  the  honor  of  erecting  and  operating  the  first  successful 
flint-glass  house  in  the  United  States. 

The  furnace  built  or  completed  in  1808  held  six  20-inch  pots.  This  was  replaced  in  1810  by  a  10-pot  furnace,  (e) 
and  in  1814  another  furnace  of  the  same  capacity  was  added  to  the  works.  The  establishment  was  burned  down 
in  the  great  fire  of  1845,  but  was  immediately  rebuilt.  The  site  is  now  occupied  in  part  by  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio 
railroad  depot,  the  brick  part  of  the  depot  being  a  part  of  the  old  warehouse. 

The  success  of  Messrs.  Bakewell  &  Page  induced  others  to  embark  in  the  business.  In  1809  another  flint- 
glass  house  was  built,  which  produced  glass  on  a  limited  scale,  and  in  1810  another  company  was  formed,  but 
failed  in  a  short  time.  In  1812  another  works,  making  the  fourth  in  four  years,  was  built.  (/)  It  would  thus 
appear  that  the  manufacture  of  flint-glass  increased  much  more  rapidly  than  that  of  window-glass,  as  at  that 
time  there  was  in  Pittsburgh  only  the  O'Hara  window-glass  works,  started  in  1797. 

In  1810  the  manufactures  of  the  United  States  began  to  attract  considerable  attention,  and  for  the  first 
time  the  census  returns  include  a  statement  of  manufactured  articles.  In  this  year  Mr.  Albert  Gallatin,  then 

a  These  decanters  were  known  as  "  big-bellied  bottles",  and  were  made  out  of  the  "  corner  pots"  of  the  window-glass  houses  even  later 
than  1837.  Mr.  Isaac  Craig  writes  me:  "I  recollect  distinctly  seeing  both  tumblers  and  decanters  made  of  green  glass.  In  old  times 
decanters  were  used  in  every  house,  most  co.i.monly  by  the  poorer  families,  who  could  not  afford  cut  glass.  Whisky  was  set  out  to  every 
visitor  in  these  decanters,  and  before  and  after  every  meal.  Although  of,  green  glass,  they  were  not  cut,  but  ornamented  by  beads  around 
the  neck."  These  beads  were  probably  pin'ched  on  while  the  glass  was  still  plastic. 

6  The  only  evidence  I  have  been  able  to  find  that  this  works  ever  existed  is  that  contained  in  Thurston  and  Bishop.  Mr.  Thomas 
Bakewell,  who  came  to  Pittsburgh  and  entered  into  the  glass  business  in  1808,  and  who  was  authority  on  the  early  history  of  glass-making 
in  that  city,  seems  to  have  had  no  knowledge  of  such  a  works,  and  speaks  of  Robinson  &  Ensell's  attempt  as  the  first. 

e  Jarves,  in  his  Reminiscences,  who  got  his  information  from  Mr.  Thomas  Bakewell,  says  1808 ;  but  in  Cuming's  Tour,  published  in 
Pittsburgh  in  1810,  is  a  statement,  p.  222,  in  regard  to  Pittsburgh,  that  "an  account  of  the  manufacturers  and  tradesmen  was  taken  in 
the  fall  of  1807,  the  result  of  which  was  *  *  *  a  glass  works  for  green  glass  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Monongahela,  another  just 
erected  for  white  glass  on  the  town  side  of  the  same  river".  This  latter  undoubtedly  was  the  Robinson  &  Ensell  works. 

d  Since  the  census  year  the  firm  has  gone  out  of  existence,  after  nearly  three-quarters  of  a  century  of  business  life. 

e  See  Jarves-  Reminiscences  of  Glass-making,  to  which  I  am  indebted  for  many  of  the  facts  about  Mr.  Bakewell  and  his  works. 

/  Jarves'  Reminiscences  of  Glass-making,  p.  72. 
1124 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  87 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  made  a  report  to  the  House  of  Representatives  on  our  industries,  in  the  course  of  which 
he  mentioned  that  "  two  works,  employing  together  six  glass-blowers,  had  lately  been  erected  at  Pittsburgh,  and 
made  decanters,  tumblers,  and  every  other  description  of  flint-glass  of  a  superior  quality". 

The  Pittsburgh  window- glass  works  is  also  mentioned,  and  it  is  stated  that  all  of  this  kind  of  works  in  the 
country,  with  the  exception  of  "that  of  Pittsburgh",  used  wood  as  fuel,  the  latter  using  coal.  According  to  the 
census  returns  for  1810,  there  were  three  glass  works  in  Pittsburgh  that  year  which  produced  $62,000  in  value.  If 
Gallatin's  statement  is  correct,  two  of  these  were  flint  works,  and  one  manufactured  window-glass  and  green 

bottles,  (a) 

Concerning  the  condition  of  glass-making  in  Pittsburgh  in  1813  and  1814  Cramer's  Navigator  (b)  states: 
The  manufacture  of  glass  has  succeeded  as  well  as  the  most  sanguine  had  expected.  The  situation  of  this  place  is  particularly  favorable, 
notwithstanding  some  disadvantages  in  procuring  some  of  the  materials.  The  first  was  established  by  Colonel  O'Hara  about  the  year 
1798.  (c)  There  are  two  glass  works  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Monongahela,  erected  by  Trevor  &  Ensell,  and  one  in  the  new  town  of 
Birmingham,  under  the  firm  of  Beltzhoover,  Wendt  &  Co.  These,  with  the  three  before  erected,  to  wit,  O'Hara's,  Robinson's,  and 
Bakewell's,  will  be  able  to  manufacture  to  the  amount  of  §160,000  annually.  Both  flint  and  green  glass  are  now  made  here  to  great 
perfection.  Messrs.  Bakewell,  Page  &  Bakewell  have  lately  built  another  flint-glass  works  in  addition  to  their  former  one.  There  are 
now  in  the  town  and  opposite  two  whiti-  and  three  green  glass  houses.  Glass-cutting  is  likewise  executed  in  this  place  not  inferior  to 
the  best  cut-glass  in  Europe.  The  furniture  of  the  apothecaries'  shops  is  altogether  of  home  manufacture. 

This  extract  would  indicate  that  some  of  the  flint  houses  had  gone  out  of  existence  and  capital  invested  in 
glass-making  was  wisely  turned  to  the  branches  that  promised  profit. 

The  number  of  glass  houses  after  this  increased  so  rapidly  that  it  is  impossible  to  enter  into  the  details  of  the 
history  of  each.  In  1819,  according  to  the  memorial  adopted  at  a  town  meeting  and  sent  to  Congress,  the 
manufacture  of  glass  in  Pittsburgh  had  rapidly  declined  since  1815.  At  the  latter  date  169  workmen  were 
employed,  producing  $235,000  in  value  of  glass  annually,  while  in  1819  the  number  had  fallen  to  40,  producing  but 
$35,100,  and  the  statement  is  made  that  in  flint-glass  alone  the  reduction  was  $75,000.  (d)  In  1820  the  census  reports 
the  product  of  "  glassware  and  colored  flint"  as  $20,000,  and  of  "  glass,  window  and  hollow",  as  $24,000.  In  Fayette 
county,  at  the  same  time,  there  were  three  establishments  making  window-glass  and  hollow  ware.  In  1826  there 
were  eight  window-glass  works  in  western  Pennsylvania,  producing  27,000  boxes  (100  feet)  of  glass  per  annum, 
valued  at  $135,000,  and,  in  additi«n,  $30,000  worth  of  flint  ware  was  made.  In  1831  (e)  there  were  four  flint  houses, 
with  thirty-two  pots,  and  four  window-glass  houses  at  Pittsburgh,  four  or  five  at  Brownsville,  one  each  at  New 
Geneva,  Bridgeport,  New  Albany,  Perrypolis,  and  Williamsport,  making  window-glass,  and  one  at  the  latter  place 
making  hollow  ware.  Mr.  Bakewell  at  this  time  estimated  that  the  value  of  glass  produced  in  western  Pennsylvania 
was  more  than  $500,000  annually.  In  1837  there  were  thirteen  factories  in  Pittsburgh  and  its  immediate  vicinity, 
six  flint  and  the  balance  window-glass  or  green  hollow  ware,  making  about  $700,000  worth.  Among  these  were 
the  Sligo  works  of  William  McCully,  established  in  1828,  and  continued  at  the  present  day  by  W.  McCully  &  Co.; 
the  flint-glass  works  of  Curling  &  Price,  known  as  the  Fort  Pitt  glass  works,  established  in  1830,  now  carried  on 
by  their  successors,  E.  D.  Dithridge  &  Co. ;  and  the  window-glass  factory  of  F.  Lorenz,  now  continued  by  Thomas 
Wightman  &  Co.  Twenty  years  afterward,  in  1857,  there  were  thirty -three  factories  at  Pittsburgh,  of  which 
nine  produced  flint-glass  and  twenty-four  window,  green,  and  black  glass  to  the  value  of  $2,631,990,  employing 
1,982  hands,  whose  wages  were  $910,116,  consuming  material  to  the  amount  of  $2,078,734  40.  In  1865  there  were 
fifteen  bottle  and  vial  factories,  fifteen  window-glass  factories,  and  fifteen  flint-glass  works  in  Pittsburgh,  being 
forty-five  glass  houses  in  all;  an  increase  of  36  per  cent,  in  eight  years.  These  fifteen  window-glass  works, 
located  immediately  at  Pittsburgh,  had  a  capacity  to  make  520,000  boxes  of  glass  in  a  year,  but  their  average  yield 
was  about  400,000  boxes,  whose  entire  value  at  that  time  was  $2,600,000.  The  fifteen  green  or  vial  works 
produced  annually  about  420,000  gross  of  vials  and  bottles,  worth,  at  the,  then  rate,  $2,100,000.  The  pressure  upon 
these  works  at  that  time  is  best  shown  by  the  fact  that,  although  only  customary  to  run  them  for  ten  months  in 
the  year,  yet  many  of  them  had  run  twenty-one  months  without  stopping.  The  fifteen  flint-glass  works  then  in 
operation  at  Pittsburgh  produced  about  4,200  tons  of  glassware,  worth  then,  in  ro  und  numbers,  $2,000,000.  Their 
capacity  was,  however,  double  the  amount  produced,  or  about  8,000  tons.  (/) 

a  Cramer's  Navigator,  published  in  1814,  states  that  in  1810  there  were  two  white  and  one  green  glass  works  in  Pittsburgh. 
6  The  copy  of  Cramer's  Navigator  from  which  this  statement  is  taken  bears  the  date  1814,  though  the  preface  was  written  in  1811. 
The  statement  probably  refers  to  1813  or  1814,  as  the  work  was  revised  and  published  in  several  editions. 
c  This  should,  of  course,  be  1797. 

d  Address  of  the  Philadelphia  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  National  Industry,  p.  257. 
e  Report  of  the  New  York  Tariff  Convention,  1831,  p.  121. 
/  Pittsburgh  and  Allegheny  in  the  Centennial  Tear.     By  G.  H.  Thurston. 

1125 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 


Below,  I  give  in  a  tabulated  form  such  statistical  information  as  I  have  been  able  to  gain  as  to  the  glass  works 
of  Pittsburgh  from  1797  : 


Date. 

WINDOW  AND  BOTTLE. 

WINDOW. 

FLINT. 

GREEN  BOTTLE. 

ALL  KINDS. 

Works. 

Valne. 

Works. 

Valne. 

Works. 

Valne. 

Works. 

Value. 

Works. 

Value. 

1797 

1 
1 

$10,000 
10,000 

1 
1 

1 
3 
3 
5 
5 
5 
6 
7 
8 
13 
10 
26 
25 
18 
45 
32 
||76 
51 

*$10,«0» 
•  10,000 
12,500 
70,00* 
62,000 
170,000 
286,000 
240,000 
35,100 
235,000 
500,000 
728,  000 

1800 

Iflfll 

1 
1 

$12,500 
40,000 

1810 

2 

$30,000 

1812 

1813 

1815 

1817 

3 

130,000 

2 

110,000 

1819 

1826 

1  135,  000 

100,000 

1831 

4 

2 
6 

1837 

5 

2 

1840 

1850 

11 

7 
5 
16 

8 
9 

7 
9 

1857 

2,631,990 
{  2,  075,  143 

$6,700,000 
J6,  832,42* 

I860 

$875,520 
2,  600,  000 

1886                                         ...  . 

15 

2,000,000 

15 

$2,  100,  000 

1870  

1876 

24 
12 

41 

30 

11 

9 

1880  

1,632,687 

3,  215,  038 

820,487 

5,  668,  212 

*  Estimated. 

t  27,000  boxes  made. 

;  From  the  census,  and  evidently  incorrect. 


$  Evidently  estimated. 

||  Number  of  furnaces,  not  of  works. 


At  the  present  census,  as  will  be  seen  by  an  examination  of  the  tables,  Allegheny  county  stands  first  as  a 
glass-making  center.    Its  statistics  are  as  follows: 


I 

UMBER  OF 

EMPLOY^! 

, 

1 

! 

Kinds  of  glass. 

establish- 
ments. 

Capital. 

No.  of 
furnaces. 

No.  of 
pots. 

Total 

Males 
over  16. 

Females 
over  15. 

Children 
and 
youths. 

Total  wages 
paid. 

Valne  of  ma- 
;  terials  used. 

| 

j   Total  value 
of  product. 

12 

$1,  880,  000 

23 

216 

1,133 

1,101 

• 

$809,  842 

$576  638 

$1,632  68" 

30 

2,  744,  500 

51 

496 

4,069 

2,691 

129 

1,249 

1,  500,  833 

1,  180,  861 

3,  215,  03f 

9 

856,  500 

11 

85 

851 

650 

12 

189 

375,  750 

382,  169 

820,  48' 

Total   

51 

5,  481,  000 

86 

797 

6,053 

4,442 

141 

1,470 

2,  686,  425 

2,  139,  658 

5,  668,  215 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  this  county  had  24.17  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  of  glass  establishments  of  all 
kinds  in  the  country,  27.62  per  cent,  of  all  the  capital  invested,  and  produced  26.79  per  cent,  in  value  of  the 
products.  It  had  20.69  per  cent  of  the  number  of  window-glass  establishments,  but  37.96  per  cent,  of  the  capital 
invested  in  window  glass,  and  produced  31§  per  cent,  of  the  boxes  of  glass  made,  and  32  per  cent,  of  value  of  product. 
In  flint-glass  and  glassware  Allegheny  cotmty  had  32.97  per  cent,  of  the  number  of  establishments,  37.04  per  cent, 
of  the  capital  invested,  and  produced  33.60  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  this  kind  of  glass  made.  In  green  glass  this 
county  had  16  per  cent,  of  the  establishments,  17.50  per  cent,  of  the  capital  invested,  and  made  14f  per  cent,  of 
the  green  glass  produced.  Of  the  total  of  the  entire  country  in  the  three  classes  named — window,  flint,  and 
green — Allegheny  county  had  24.88  or  25  per  cent,  of  the  establishments,  31.76  or  32  per  cent,  of  the  capital,  and 
made  in  value  28  per  cent,  of  all  the  product. 

It  should  be  noted  that  these  calculations  do  not  include  plate-glass,  of  which  none  is  made  in  this  county, . 
nor  do  they  include  the  works  in  Fayette  and  Beaver  counties,  which  have  their  offices  in  Pittsburgh. 

While  the  figures  show  that  the  proportion  of  the  glass  of  the  United  States  made  in  this  county  is  not  so 
great  as  has  been  supposed,  it  indicates  that  of  all  the  great  industries  of  the  country  it  is  the  one  that  produces 
at  Pittsburgh  the  largest  proportion. 

GLASS-MAKING  IN  MASSACHUSETTS. 

The  history  of  the  beginning  of  the  manufacture  of  glass  in  Massachusetts  is  involved  in  some  doubt. 
Bishop,  in  his  History  of  American  Manufactures,  states  that  the  earliest  works  was  built  in  a  part  of  what  is  now 
the  town  of  Quincy,  but  in  this  he  is  probably  mistaken,  as  the  Salem  works  were  undoubtedly  the  first.  He 

1126 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  89 

assigns  no  date  to  this  Quincy  works,  but  Appleton's  Cyclopedia  gives  it  as  about  1750.  This  works  was,  like 
most  of  the  other  early  ones  in  this  country,  built  by  Germans,  (a)  and  its  site  is  known  to  this  day  as  Germantown. 
Only  black  bottles  were  made,  some  specimens  of  which  still  exist,  which  are  of  very  poor  metal  and  of  rude  make. 
The  proprietors  failed  some  years  before  the  Revolution,  and  the  house  having  burned  down,  it  was  never  rebuilt,  (b) 

The  first  glass  house  in  Massachusetts,  and  the  first  to  which  a  date  can  be  assigned,  was  erected  in  Salem  about 
1639.  In  this  year  Ananias  Concklin,  Obadiah  Holmes,  and  Lawrence  Southwick  received  two  acres  of  land  each 
"adjoining  to  their  houses",  which  was  granted  to  them  as  " glass  men ",  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  the 
manufacture  of  glass.  The  next  year  John  Concklin,  another  "glass  man",  was  allotted  five  acres  more  bordering 
the  previous  grants. 

In  December,  1641,  the  general  court,  for  the  encouragement  of  the  enterprise,  authorized  the  town  of  Salem 
to  lend  the  proprietors  £30,  which  was  to  be  deducted  from  the  next  town  rate,  and  the  glass  men  were  to 
repay  it,  "  if  the  work  succeeded,  when  they  were  able."  (c)  The  works  having  been  neglected  for  three  years, 
the  Concklins,  iu  1645,  received  permission  from  the  court  to  form  a  new  company  to  carry  on  the  business,  (d) 
Glass  was  for  a  considerable  time  afterward  manufactured  at  that  place,  which  is  mentioned  in  the  Colonial 
Records,  in  1661,  as  the  Glass  House  field.  In  this,  and  those  which  for  many  years  succeeded,  it  is  probable  that 
nothing  more  was  attempted  than  the  manufacture  of  bottles  and  other  coarse  descriptions  of  glass,  (e) 

Assuming  the  date  assigned  to  this  works,  to  be  correct,  it  certainly  displayed  a  great  deal  of  enterprise  in 
the  infant  colony  to  thus  early  undertake  the  manufacture  of  glass,  and,  though  the  products  were  coarse,  they 
answered  the  purposes  of  the  colonists.  Window-glass  could  be  imported  from  England  of  a  much  better  quality 
than  could  be  made,  but  bottles  were  so  bulky  and  so  liable  to  breakage  that  they  could  be  made  to  advantage 
ir  competition  with  the  works  of  the  mother  country. 

The  history  of  the  glass  works  of  Xew  England  is  involved  in  doubt  for  some  years  after  this,  but  it  is  probable 
that  a  works  was  built  at  Boston  just  prior  to  the  Revolution,  as  Lord  Sheffield,  writing  at  the  close  of  the  war,  says :  "A 
considerable  glass  manufacture  at  Boston  failed  there  several  years  ago."  In  December,  1752,  the  general  court 
passed  an  act  granting  Isaac  C.  W;uslow  and  others  the  sole  privilege  of  making  glass  in  the  province.  It  is 
probable  that  this  works  was  established  at  Boston,  and  that  it  was  this  failure  to  which  Lord  Sheffield  refers. 
However  this  may  be,  Boston  again  began  the  manufacture  of  glass  shortly  after  the  Revolution,  and  this  time 
with  great  and  long-continued  success.  This  new  enterprise,  the  Boston  Crown  Glass  Company,  which  was  the 
first  really  successful  glass  works  in  the  country,  was  greatly  encouraged  by  the  very  liberal  action  of  the  state.  In 
July,  1 787,  Messrs.  Whalley,  Hunuewell,  and  others  received  from  the  legislature  a  charter  conferring  upon  them 
the  exclusive  right  to  manufacture  glass  in  Massachusetts  f»r  fifteen  years,  and  a  fine  of  £500  was  attached 
to  any  infringement  of  this  right.  The  capital  stock  was  exempted  from  all  taxes,  and  the  workmen  from  all 
military  duties.  Jarves  also  states  that  to  counteract  the  effect  of  the  bounty  paid  by  England  on  the  exportation 
of  glass  from  that  kingdom  the  state  paid  the  proprietors  of  this  works  a  bounty  on  every  table  of  glass  made. 
A  pyramidal  factory  of  brick  was  erected  on  a  large  scale  at  the  foot  of  Essex  street;  but  being  found  ill-adapted  tc 
the  purpose,  it  was  afterward  taken  down  and  a  wooden  one,  lined  with  brick,  differently  constructed,  was  put  up  in 
its  place,  its  dimensions  being  100  feet  in  length  by  60  in  width.  On  account  of  difficulties  in  procuring  workmen 
and  other  embarrassments  operations  were  not  fully  commenced  until  November,  1792.  (/)  The  corporation 
commenced  with  the  manufacture  of  crown  window-glass,  which  was  of  a  quality  equal  or  superior  to  any  imported. 
Materials  were  found  to  be  abundant,  and  some  six  years  later  they  produced  about  900  sheets  per  week,  worth 
$1  75  per  sheet,  or  $82,000  per  annum,  (g) 

This  works  was  incorporated  as  the  Boston  Crown  Glass  Company  in  1809.  Regarding  the  success  ot  this 
company  Mr.  Jarves  says : 

The  state  bounty  had  the  effect  to  encourage  the  proprietors  and  sustain  their  efforts,  so  that  by  perseverance  many  difficulties  were 
overcome  and  a  well-earned  reputatien  supported  for  the  strength  and  clearness  of  their  glass ;  a  glass  superior  to  the  imported,  and  well 
known  throughout  the  United  States  as  "  Boston  window-glass  ".  This  reputation  they  steadily  sustained,  until  they  made  glass  in  their 
new  works  at  South  Boston  in  the  year  1822. 

The  early  success  of  this  works  led  to  the  establishment  of  others  iu  various  parts  of  the  country,  and  many  of 
the  workmen  of  the  Essex-street  house  were  enticed  away  by  flattering  offers.  In  1811  the  proprietors  of  the 
Essex-street  works  erected  large  and  improved  works  on  the  shore  at  South  Boston,  and  to  supply  the  workmen 
enticed  away,  as  also  to  meet  the  wants  of  their  factory,  an  agent  was  sent  to  England  to  procure  a  set  of  glass- 
workers.  By  the  time  they  reached  this  country  the  war  with  England  broke  out,  and  the  enterprise  was  defeated; 

a  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  some  or  all  of  the  workers  in  the  first  glass  houses  of  Virginia,  Itferyland,  Pennsylvania,  atid  New 
Hampshire  were  Germans. 

6  See  Jarves'  Reminiscences  of  Glass  Making,  p.  5".     Also  Mass.  History  Col.,  vol.  iii,  p.  276. 

c  Felt's  Annals  of  Salem. 

d  Colonial  Uncords,  vol.  i,  344;  ii,  137. 

e  See  Bishop's  History  of  American  Manufactures,  vol.  i,  pp.  233,  234. 

/  Mr.  Jarves  says  in  1803,  upon  the  arrival  of  a  German  by  the  name  of  Lint  (probably  Lindt). 

g  See  Bishop's  History  of  American  Manufactures,  vol.  i,  p.  241. 

1127 


90  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

for  it  became  difficult  to  procure  fuel  aud  the  various  means  for  carrying  on  the  Essex-street  works.    After  the 
war  operations  were  resumed  and  continued  until  1826,  .when  from  bad  management  the  company  failed. 

In  1802  glass  works  were  established  at  Middlesex  village,  then  in  the  town  of  Chelmsford,  but  now  a  part 
of  Lowell,  by  Hunnewell  &  Gore,  of  Boston.  Window-glass  was  the  chief  product,  though  some  other  glass  was 
made.  Allen's  History  of  Chelmsford^  published  in  1820,  states: 

On  the  east  bank  of  Middlesex  canal,  a  distance  of  200  rods  from  Merrimack  river,  a  large  building,  124  feet  long  and  62  feet  wide, 
with  ut-cessary  appendages  for  manufacture  of  window-glass,  was  erected  in  1802. 

Near  it  is  a  two-storied  house,  handsomely  finished,  designed  for  the  residence  of  the  overseer,  and  around  it,  at  convenient  distances, 
a  number  of  smaller  houses  for  the  accommodation  of  the  workmen  aud  their  families. 

There  are  appertaining  to  this  manufactory  about  20  families,  consisting  of  40  men,  20  women,  and  40  children — 100  in  all.  It  is 
now  in  a  flourishing  state.  About  330,000  feet  of  window-glass  are  annually  made,  or  3,300  boxes  of  100  feet  each,  which,  at  f  13  per  box, 
will  amount  to  $42,900. 

The  situation  is  very  favorable  for  transportation  to  Boston,  and  those  raw  materials  from  thence  which  it  would  be  expensive  to 
convey  by  land.  A  ready  and  cheap  supply  of  wood  is  also  easily  obtained,  of  which  it  is  estimated  that  about  2,000  cords  are  annually 
consumed  in  the  manufactory  and  houses  attached  to  it. 

The  manufactory  consists  of  two  furnaces,  three  flattening  ovens,  two  tempering  ovens,  six  ovens  for  drying  wood,  cutting,  mixing, 
and  pot  rooms,  a  kiln  for  burning  brick,  a  mill-house,  and  sand-house. 

The  proprietors  failed  about  1827  orx1828;  the  works  were  also  burned  about  this  time.  In  1828  a  corporation 
was  formed  and  the  works  rebuilt,  but  it  is  uncertain  if  glass  was  made  before  1829.  In  1839  the  works  were 
abandoned  and  moved  to  Suncook  village,  Pembroke,  New  Hampshire.  The  process  of  manufacture  at  this 
works  is  thus  described :  (a) 

The  process  was  to  mix  Morris  river  (New  Jersey1)  or  Massabesic  lake  (New  Hampshire)  sand  with  lime,  sal-soda,  black  and  white 
salts,  etc. ;  no  sand  was  ever  procured  for  the  purpose  in  this  region.  Ten  large  pots  were  heated  from  one  furnace,  each  pot  making 
about  500  surface  feet  of  glass  per  "melt",  and  there  were  on  an  average  about  twenty-five  "melts"  per  month,  running  nine  months  of 
the  year.  The  glass  was  first  blown  in  cylindrical  shape,  like  a  long  piece  of  stove-pipe,  then  cut  along  one  side  lengthwise  and  flattened. 

Various  other  attempts  have  been  made  in  eastern  Massachusetts  to  establish  the  manufacture  of  window-glass, 
the  details  of  which  I  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain.  In  1860  a  iarge  establishment,  the  Boston  crystal  glass 
works,  was  erected  at  South  Boston  for  the  manufacture  of  sheet  window-glass.  This  was  followed  by  several 
smaller  ones,  but  they  all  failed  to  make  glass  at  a  profit,  and  were  abandoned.  As  an  illustration  of  the  losses 
frequently  met  with  in  these  manufacturing  experiments,  it  may  be  stated  that  the  plant  of  this  Boston  crystal 
glass  works,  which  cost  about  $186,000,  after  lying  idle  for  fifteen  years,  was  sold  in  1881  for  $60,000  to  the 
Wai  worth  Tube  Manufacturing  Company.  All  the  window- glass  works  in  this  section  have  been  abandoned,  and 
in  the  census  year  the  only  one  in  operation  in  the  state  was  in  the  western  part,  in  Berkshire  county. 

Through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  A.  T.  Servin,  of  Lenox  Furnace,  who  has  been  closely  identified  with  the  glass 
industry  of  that  section,  I  am  enabled  to  give  some  details  of  the  attempts  to  establish  its  manufacture  in  western 
Massachusetts.  In  1812  a  window-glass  factory  was  started  at  Cheshire,  probably  the  first  attempt  at  the 
manufacture  of  glass  away  from  the  seaboard,  and  about  the  same  time  another  was  built  in  the  near  town  of 
Chester  Factory.  These  were  brought  into  existence  by  the  war  of  1812,  and  owing  to  the  superior  quality  of  the 
sand  were  located  at  this  place.  Both  of  these  ran  but  a  short  time.  In  1850-'51  a  window-glass  factory  was 
started  at  Cheshire,  ran  about  two  years,  and  was  changed  to  a  plate-glass  factory.  It  has  since  been  used  for 
window  glass,  but  is  now  abandoned.  In  1853  a  factory  was  started  at  Berkshire.  This  is  still  in  successful 
operation,  and  is  the  only  works  that  made  window-glass  in  New  England  in  the  census  year.  In  1853  another 
factory  was  started  at  Lenox  Furnace,  but  this  was  changed  to  plate-glass ;  and  in  1869  still  another  works  was 
built  at  this  place,  which  ran  for  about  two  years,  but  is  now  abandoned. 

The  beginning  of  the  manufacture  of  flint-glass  in  Massachusetts  was  an  outgrowth  of  the  Essex-street 
factory.  Among  the  workmen  brought  to  this  country  to  operate  this  works  were  a  number  who  were  not  only 
skilled  window-glass  blowers,  but  were  flint-glass  workers  as  well.  When  the  window-glass  works  were  compelled 
to  suspend  operations  in  part,  owing  to  the  difficulty  of  procuring  materials  during  the  war  of  1812,  a  number  of 
blowers  were  thrown  out  of  occupation.  Among  these  was  Mr.  Thomas  Caiues,  who  was  still  living  when  Mr. 
Jarves  wrote  his  Reminiscences.  Mr.  Caines,  who  was  not  only  a  skilled  blower,  but  an  admirable  manager, 
and  was  also  well  acquainted  with  the  art  of  mixing  glass  and  the  proportions  employed,  prevailed  upon  the 
proprietors  of  the  window-glass  works  to  build  a  smalt  six-pot  flint  furnace  in  a  part  of  their  unoccupied  works 
at  South  Boston.  This  establishment  found  full  employment  during  the  war  of  1812.  It,  however,  was  compelled 
to  cease  operations,  and  though  several  attempts  were  made  to  operate  it  between  1820  and  1840  they  were 
unsuccessful.  About  the  same  time  that  this  South  Boston  factory  was  built  the  Porcelain  and  Glass  Manufacturing 
Company  was  incorporated  and  built  a  flint-glass  house  at  East  Cambridge.  The  furnace  was  a  small  six-pot  one, 
and  workmen  were  brought  from  abroad  to  work  it;  but  it  proved  a  failure.  In  1815  some  workmen  left  the  South 
Boston  factory,  leased  this  furnace  at  East  Cambridge,  aud  commenced  the  manufacture  of  flint-glass  under  the 
firm  name  of  Emmet,  Fisher  &  Flowers;  but  want  of  harmony  among  the  members  of  the  firm  led  to  a  dissolution, 
and  in  1817  the  Porcelain  Company  disposed  of  their  works  at  auction.  These  were  bought  by  the  New 


a  See  Vox  PonuU.  Lowell,  Massachusetts. 
1128 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  91 

England  Glass  Company,  which  was  incorporated  in  1817,  and  from  these  works  has  been  produced  glass  the  equal 
of  that  made  in  the  best  English  flint  houses.  This  works,  when  it  first  started,  had  a  small  six-pot  furnace,  each 
pot  holding  about  600  pounds  of  batch.  Some  forty  hands  were  employed,  and  the  yearly  product  was  about  $40,000. 
Bishop,  in  speaking  of  these  works  in  1818,  which  he  calls  "  one  of  the  most  extensive  flint-glass  manufactories  hi 
the  country  ",  says : 

Two  flint-glass  furnaces  and  tweuty-ibur  glass-cutting  mills,  operated  by  steam,  and  a  red-lead  furnace,  capable  of  making  two  ton* 
of  red  lead  per  week,  enabled  them  to  produce  every  variety  of  fine,  plain,  mold,  and  the  richest  cut  glass,  as  Grecian  lamps,  chandeliers 
for  churches,  vases,  antique  and  transparent  lamps,  etc.,  for  domestic  supply  and  exportation  to  the  West  Indies  and  South  America. 
Virginia  coal.  New  Orleans  lead,  Delaware  sand,  and  other  native  materials  were  used.  The  capital  was  about  §80,000,  and  the  annual 
product  §05,000. 

in  1823  it  is  stated  that  22,400  pounds  of  glass  vessels  per  week  were  made,  many  of  which  are  beautifully  cut, 
and  were  sent  into  Boston  and  other  places  for  sale.  Writing  of  these  works  in  1865,  Mr.  Jarves  states  that  five 
furnaces  were  run,  averaging  ten  pots  each,  with  a  capacity  of  2,000  pounds  to  each  pot.  Five  hundred  hands  were 
employed,  and  the  yearly  product  was  $500,000.  This  works  is  still  in  existence,  but  is  leased  to  Mr.  W.  L.  Libby, 
who  runs  only  a  portion  of  it.  Its  reputation  for  the  excellent  quality  of  its  glass  is  still  very  high. 

In  1825  ground  was  broken  for  a  flint-glass  works  at  Sandwich,  and  in  three  months  they  commenced  blowing 
glass.  These  works  also  comiueuced  in  a  small  way  with  an  eight-pot  furnace,  the  weekly  melts  being  some  7,000 
pounds;  but  at  the  time  Mr.  Jarves  wrote  his  Reminiscences  the  weekly  melts  had  been  increased  to  about  100,000 
pounds,  and  the  one  furnace,  with  eight  pots,  to  four  with  forty  pots. 

In  1865  Mr.  Jarves  states  that  two  flint-glass  establishments  were  in  operation  in  East  Cambridge,  three  in 
South  Boston,  and  one  in  Sandwich.  At  the  present  time  there  are  six  glassware  establishments  in  Massachusetts, 
of  which  one  was  entirely  idle  and  virtually  out  of  existence  and  another  idle  in  part. 

Some  of  the  most  interesting  chapters  in  the  history  of  glass  in  Massachusetts  are  those  recording  the  successes 
and  defeats  connected  with  the  manufacture  of  plate-glass.  These  are  given  in  4etail  in  that  part  of  this  chapter 
treating  of  plate-glass.  Here  it  is  only  needful  to  say  that  these  attempts  began  at  Cheshire  in  1852-1853.  The  works 
was  changed  from  window-glass  to  plate-glass,  run  for  about  two  months,andwas  then  moved  to  Brooklyn,  New  York. 
The  second  effort  was  at  Lenox  Furnace.  These  works,  after  passing  the  vicissitudes  narrated  elsewhere,  are  still 
iu  existence. 

Though  at  one  time  Massachusetts  was  in  the  foremost  rank  of  glass-producing  states,  the  lack  of  fuel  has 
caused  it  to  fall  in  the  rear  as  to  amount  of  product.  In  some  lines  as  to  quality,  however,  it  is  still  unsurpassed. 

I* 

GLASS-MAKING  IN  NEW  HAMPSHIEE. 

• 

Glass-making  in  New  Hampshire  dates  from  near  the  close  of  the  revolutionary  war.  In  May,  1780,  Mr. 
Bobert  Hewes,  of  Boston,  began  the  erection  of  a  glass  works  in  the  town  of  Temple,  and  in  the  autumn  or  early 
winter  he  started  his  fires.  At  this  time  glass  was  in  good  demand  in  the  rebellious  colonies.  England,  of  course, 
prohibited  all  exportation  t'roiu  her  ports,  and  the  severity  of  the  blockade  prevented  the  glass  of  other  countries 
from  reaching  this  in  any  quantities.  Indeed,  the  holds  of  the  blockade  runners  would  scarcely  find  space  for  glass, 
when  powder  and  shot  were  more  in  demand. 

Mr.  Hewes,  who  had  been  left  by  his  father  quite  a  fortune,  determined  to  undertake  the  manufacture  of  glass. 
Having  secured  a  number  of  German  Hessians  and  Waldeckers,  who  were  skilled  glass- workers  iu  their  own  country 
and  had  formed  part  of  the  mercenaries  sent  to  this  country  with  the  British  army,  and  who  had  deserted  from  it,  he 
started  this  Temple  works ;  but  the  building  was  hardly  completed  when  it  was  burned  down.  This  was  a  serious 
blow,  but  to  prevent  the  abandonment  of  the  enterprise  the  people  of  Temple  came  to  Mr:  Hewes'  assistance,  and 
the  works  were  reconstructed.  Then  frost  shattered  the  furnaces  so  that  they  would  not  stand  the  fire,  and  they 
gave  way  at  the  first  melt,  (a) 

To  add  to  his  difficulties  as  a  result  of  these  delays  and  loss  his  capital  was  seriously  impaired  and  money 
was  needed  to  continue  the  enterprise ;  but  the  people  of  Temple  had  no  money  to  lend,  and  did  not  choose  to  invest  it 
if  they  had.  Mr.  Hewes  petitioned  aid  from  the  state,  asking  "  freedom  from  taxation  on  his  buildings",  exemption 
of  taxes  for  his  men,  and  the  granting  of  a  bounty  upon  the  glass  produced.  January  2,  1781,  the  house  of 
representatives  of  New  Hampshire  voted  to  receive  and  accept  Mr.  Hewes'  petition,  but  postponed  the  paying  of 
bounty  till  good  window-glass  could  be  successfully  produced. 

The  persistence  of  Mr.  Hewes  is  best  illustrated  by  the  following  petition  made  to  the  selectmen  of  Temple -in 
the  winter  of  1781,  written  from  Boston: 

GENTLEMEN :  After  due  respects,  hoping  these  will  find  yourselves  and  families  well,  they  arc  to  inform,  that,  being  almost  discouraged 
by  the  misfortunes  I  have  met  with  &  the  little  spirit  of  the  People  to  encourage  me,  I  am  almost  determined  to  drop  all  thoughts  of 
proprriitinjr  tlie  Glass-Manufactory  in  Temple,  for  why  should  I  strive,  to  introduce  a  Manufactory  to  benefit  a  people  that  has  not  spirit 
enough  to  subscribe  a  trifle  to  encourage  it,  when  I  have  met  with  a  misfortune — for  if  the  Business  ever  conies  to  perfection  it  will  be  a 
greater  service  to  the  country  than  it  possibly  can  be  to  me,  even  if  I  make  my  fortune  f  But,  Gentlemen,  it  teas  not  money  only,  that 

a  These  facts  concerning  Mr/Hewes'  enterprise  are  condensed  from  a  paper  on  "  Glass-making  in  the  Merriniack  Basin",  published 
in  Contributions  of  Old  Residents'  Historical  Association,  Lowell,  Massachusetts,  vol.  ii,  No.  2. 


92  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

induced  me,  but  it  was  because  I  was  satisfied  I  could  do  it,  &  in  so  doing  serve  my  country  most  essentially— more  especially  your  Town. 
You  will  do  well,  Gentlemen,  to  consider  this  is  not  a  thing  for  a  moment,  but  it  is  laying  a  foundation  for  the  good  of  Posterity ;  for 
certain  I  am  if  my  Glass-works  are  brought  to  perfection,  they  will  soon  be  as  universal  as  the  Iron  works,  or  many  others ;  as  I  said  to 
Esquire  Blood  the  other  day,  "  that  the  Glass-makers  should  be  employed,  if  it  were  only  to  steal  their  art." 

I  think  the  Town  of  Temple,  as  a  Town,  will  be  highly  culpable  if  they  let  this  matter  slip  without  a  struggle.  But  it  is  not  for  me 
to  point  out  the  advantage  you  are  all  sensible  of. 

What  I  have  to  say  is  what  will  your  Town  do  to  encourage  the  matter?  I  shall  have  to  send  60  miles  for  stones  to  build  my  melting 
furnace,  which  will  take  eight  teams,  &  then  all  the  other  furnaces  are  to  be  rebuilt;  but  all  this  while,  the  Glass-makers  and  families  are 
to  be  supported,  which  will  be  a  costly  affair. 

Your  court  will  make  a  Lottery,  I  suppose,  but  that  will  be  a  thing  of  Time.  Can  I  be  credited  for  one  or  two  Carcasses  of  Beef, 
till  the  Lottery  is  drawn,  or  what  way  can  you  think  of  to  help  me  till  the  works  are  set  a  going? 

I  should  be  glad  to  kuow  your  opinion  of  the  matter  as  soon  as  possible,  so  that  I  may  know  what  to  determine. 

From  Your  Friend  and  Humble  Servant,  RQBERT  ^^ 

P.  S. — Mr.  Ashley  will  wait  upon  you  with  this  and  receive  your  answer,  and  transmit  it  to  me  as  soon  as  possible. 

R.  H. 

P.  S.— If  I  could  be  properly  encouraged,  I  would  come  up  in  the  Spring  and  work  at  it  myself  till  it  comes  to  perfection. 

MARCH  5,  1871.— The  Town  voted  to  advance  upon  a  loan  to  Mr.  Hewes  £3000,  with  good  security,  to  be  assessed  in  two  months, 
and  collected  as  soon  as  may  be. 

On  the  same  day,  March  5,  Mr.  Hewes'  agent  at  the  glass  house  wrote  to  the  selectmen  "  requesting  provisions". 

March  11,  Mr.  Hewes  writes  to  the  selectmen  from  Boston,  declining  the  loan  of  £3,000,  if  security  is  required, 
states  he  will  not  assume  any  further  risk  or  responsibility ;  that  ten  times  that  sum  could  be  secured  in  .Boston  if 
he  wanted  it,  but  that  he  had  determined  to  recede  immediately,  and  proposed  to  sell  his  interest  in  the  works  at 
a  low  price;  had  resolved  to  do  nothing  further  except  bring  down  the  workmen,  if  nobody  appears  to  purchase 
the  houses  and  tools. 

March  24,  in  a  letter  from  Boston,  Mr.  Hewes  proposes  to  the  selectmen  that  he  be  supplied  money  on  a  loan, 
on  the  strength  of  the  lottery,  for  which  he  seems  to  have  petitioned  the  general  court  of  New  Hampshire,  and 
requests  that  his  glass-blowers  be  furnished  with  supplies  for  subsistence. 

It  was  not  till  March  30,  1781,  that  the  lottery  act  was  passed,  giving  leave  to  raise  £2,000,  new  emission,  for 
the  Temple  glass  works,  and  appointing  three  men  to  conduct  the  lottery  and  report  their  proceedings  and  account 
to  the  general  court  within  one  year.  A  fac-simile  of  the  lottery  tickets  may  be  found  on  page  171  of  the  History 
of  Temple. 

The  tickets  would  not  sell,  and  I  have  no  statement  what  their  prize  was  to  be.  I  infer  the  great  obstacle  to  the 
success  of  the  lottery  to  have  been  want  of  faith  in  the  glass  works,  and  as  a  result  Mr.  Hewes  abandoned  the 
enterprise.  The  works  made  both  window-glass  and  glassware,  and  some  of  its  products,  among  them  a  glass  plate, 
are  preserved  in  Harvard  University. 

There  is  no  record  of  any  further  attempt  to  make  glass  in  New  Hampshire  until  1814,  when  by  an  act  of 
the  legislature,  passed  on  June  24  of  that  year,  the  New  Hampshire  glass  factory  was  incorporated  at  Keene. 
This  works  made  oiily  cylinder  window-glass,  and  the  census  of  1820  reports  it  as  having  a  capital  of  $25,000, 
paying  out  $11,400  for  materials,  $10,000  for  wages,  $500  for  contingent  expenses,  employing  twenty  men  and  five 
youths,  and  producing  $30,000  worth  of  window-glass  from  1,825  bushels  of  sand,  200  barrels  of  lime,  547  bushels 
of  salt,  and  36  tons  of  potash.  In  the  hands  of  its  original  owner  the  enterprise  was  not  successful,  and  passed 
under  the  control  of  other  parties,  who,  in  turn,  disposed  of  it  to  others.  From  1847  to  1851  the  works  were  operated 
by  J.  D.  Collony,  when  they  were  finally  abandoned,  no  part  of  them  remaining. 

In  1817  a  factory  was  started  in  the  same  town  (a)  for  the  manufacture  of  "black  and  flint  bottles"  by  Justin 
Perry.  This  was  operated  until  1848,  when  it  ceased  work,  for  the  same  reason  that  the  window  factory  was 
abandoned — the  high  price  of  fuel. 

In  1840  Mr.  William  Parker,  who  had  been  operating  a  window-glass  works  at  Middlesex  village,  Massachusetts, 
then  a  part  of  Chelmsford,  but  since  annexed  to  Lowell,  removed  it  to  Pembroke,  New  Hampshire,  where  he  built 
a  brick  glass  house  for  window-glass.  The  motive  for  moving  the  works  from  Chelmsford  to  Pembroke  was  the 
reduced  cost  of  supporting  the  workmen,  ease  of  obtaining  cheap  fuel,  and  close  proximity  to  an  abundant  supply 
of  sand  at  Massabesic  pond,  in  Chester,  now  Manchester.  These  works  were  carried  on  from  1839  to  1850,  but 
were  by  no  means  a  success  in  their  new  location,  the  expected  supply  of  suitable  sand  proving  a  delusion,  that 
from  Massabesic  producing  glass  of  so  dark  a  color,  by  reason  of  iron,  that  it  was  unsalable,  and  sand  from  the 
•Maurice  river,  New  Jersey,  was  the  only  resort,  with  increased  cost  for  transportation.  The  revision  of  the  teriif 
in  1845  brought  another  disaster,  the  duty  on  imported  glass  being  made  so  low  that  the  country  was  supplied 
with  European  glass  at  less  price  than  the  cost  of  production  here.  In  1848  the  manufacture  of  sheet  window-glass 
was  abandoned  and  that  of  crown  glass  undertaken,  but  with  no  success,  and  in  1850  its  manufacture  was 
abandoned. 

a  This  is  the  account  I  have  received  from  Mr.  William  S.  Briggs,  of  Keene.     Bishop,  in  his  History  of  American  Manufacturer, 
published  in  1868,  vol.  ii,  p.  206,  speaking  of  the  year  1814,  says:    "A  glass  manufactory  was  this  year  incorporated  in   Keene,  New 
Hampshire,  where  it  is  still  (1868)  a  principal  business."    This  is  probably  an  c  rror. 
1130 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS  93 

In  March,  1866,  a  glass  house  for  the  manufacture  of  bottles  was  built  at  South  Lyndeborough,  New 
Hampshire.  This  works  is  still  in  existence.  Its  characteristics  and  product  will  be  found  in  the  tables  of  this 
report. 

GLASS-MAKING  IN  NEW  YOEK. 

According  to  Bishop's  History  of  American  Manufactures,  among  the  early  settlers  on  Manhattan  Island  was  a 
glass-maker,  Jan  Smeedes,  who  is  supposed  to  have  been  among  the  first  to  receive  an  allotment  of  land  on  the 
present  South  William  street,  between  Wall  and  Pearl.  He  probably  carried  on  the  business  of  glass-making  on 
the  east  side  of  the  street,  just  north  of  Hanover  square.  This  street  formerly  bore  within  the  above  limits  the 
name  of  "  the  Glass-maker's  street",  and  afterward  Smee  street,  from  its  original  occupant.  Of  the  history  of  his 
works  no  account  has  been  found.  In  addition  to  this  early  works  at  the  southern  end  of  the  island  there  seems  to 
have  been  a  glass  house  located  between  Eighth  and  Eleventh  avenues  and  north  of  Thirty-fourth  street,  as  on 
De  Witt's  farm  map  of  New  York  about  1732  there  is  an  estate  called  "  the  glass-house  farm  ".  The  first  of  these 
works  must  have  been  built  early  in  the  seventeenth  century,  at  least  during  the  Dutch  occupation  of  the  island, 
which  ended  in  1664.  It  would  thus  appear  that  New  York,  equally  with  Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  and  Massachusetts, 
counted  glass-making  among  its  very  earliest  industries,  dating  not  much  after  the  first  colonization. 

From  this  time  for  nearly  a  hundred  years  no  records  of  the  existence  of  any  glass  works  have  been  found;  but  no 
doubt  there  were  some  factories  in  operation  at  various  points  and  at  various  times  in  this  state,  as  well  as  in  other 
states,  though  glass-making  flourished  but  poorly  in  these  early  times.  In  1754  a  glass  works  was  erected  by  a 
Dutch  gentleman  by  the  name  of  Bamber  in  Brooklyn,  probably  the  first  in  Kings  county,  which  now  ranks  second 
as  a  glass-produciug  center  in  the  United  States.  The  Historical  Society  of  that  city  have  in  their  cabinet  a  glass 
bottle  having  blown  on  it  the  name  of  Mr.  Bamber  and  the  date  1754,  (a)  "the  first  one,"  so  the  record  reads, 
"  manufactured  at  the  glass  works  started  in  1754  on  the  site  of  the  present  glass  works  on  State  street.  This 
enterprise,  we  are  informed,  was  brought  to  an  untimely  end  for  want  of  sand;  that  is,  the  right  kind  of  sand." 
From  this  statement  regarding  the  sand  Mr.  Jarves  is  led  to  believe  that  the  bottle  must  have  been  of  flint-glass, 
and  the  works  a  flint-glass  works,  as  sand  suitable  for  green  or  black  glass  abounds  on  the  shore  near  its  location. 
This,  however,  would  not  be  conclusive  evidence  of  the  fact  that  they  were  flint  works,  as  we  have  no  doubt  that 
in  those  days,  as  "at  the  present  time,  reasons  which  are  not  at  all  the  correct  ones  were  frequently  given  for 
the  failure  of  manufacturing  establishments. 

Governor  Moore,  in  a  letter  to  the  Lords  of  Trade  and  Plantations,  dated  Fort  George,  New  York,  January  12, 
1767,  says : 

The  Master  of  a  Glass  House,  which  was  set  up  here  a  few  years  ago,  now  Bankrupt,  assured  me  that  his  ruin  was  owing  to  no  other 
t*tu.se  than  being  deserted  in  this  manner  by  his  servants,  which  he  had  imported  at  great  expence ;  and  that  many  others  had  suffered 
and  been  reduced  as  he  was  by  the  same  kind  of  misfortune.  (6) 

To  what  works  Governor  Moore  referred  does  not  appear. 

From  this  time  until  1780 1  have  not  been  able  to  find  any  other  record,  when,  as  the  evils  of  large  importations 
began  to  be  seen  and  felt,  and  the  advantage  of  establishing  domestic  industry  became  impressed  upon  the  minds 
ef  the  inhabitants  of  this  country,  efforts  were  made  in  New  York,  as  in  the  other  colonies,  to  re-establish  the 
manufacture  of  glass.  In  April,  1786,  specimens  of  white  glass  made  at  the  glass  house- that  had  lately  been  erected 
in  Albany  were  presented  to  the  American  Philosophical  Society.  Mr.  Elkanah  Watson,  in  his  Reminiscences  of 
Albany,  published  in  1788,  mentions  a  visit  to  the  new  glass  house,  erected  by  John  De  Neufville  at  a  place  about  eight 
miles  from  Albany.  Mr.  De  Neufville,  who  was  a  Dutch  gentleman,  and  had  been  active  on  behalf  of  the  American 
colonies  during  the  revolutionary  war,  having  sacrificed  in  their  behalf  nearly  the  whole  of  a  fortune  of  a  half- 
million  sterling,  invested  the  small  amount  remaining  in  what  Mr.  Watson  terms  the  "  hopeless  enterprise  "  of  a 
glass  house,  (c)  In  January,  1785,  Leonard  De  Neufville  and  his  associates,  the  proprietors  of  a  glass  factory 
situated  at  Dowesborough,  in  the  midst  of  a  well-wooded  pine  forest,  described  as  10  miles  from  Albany,  and 
which  was  probably  the  same  works  as  that  referred  to  by  Mr.  Watson  in  his  memoirs,  applied  to  the  legislature 
for  aid  in  their  undertaking,  urging  as  a  reason  for  this  assistance  that  £30,000  were  sent  abroad  annually  for 
glass,  (d)  They  also  stated  that  they  were  able  to  manufacture  any  size  superior  to  English  glass.  This  expression 
would  lead  to  the  belief  that  the  works  was  a  window-glass  works.  In  1793  the  legislature  of  New  York  voted  a 
loan  of  £3,000  for  eight  years  to  the  proprietors,  three  years  without  interest  and  five  years  at  5  per  cent;  but  by 
this  time  the  works  had  passed  out  of  the  possession  of  the  De  Neufville  family.  In  The  Appolo,  published  at 
Boston,  under  date  of  September  28,  1792,  appears  the  following  regarding  this  works : 

We  learn  from  Albany  that  the  glass  works  erected  several  years  ago  within  a  few  miles  of  that  city,  and  which  has  been  deserted 
ever  since  for  want  of  cash,  is  now  owned  by  Messrs.  McCallen,  McGregor  &  Co.,  who  have  completely  repaired  it,  supplied  it  with  every 
material,  and  are  now  manufacturing  and  advertising  for  sale  window-glass  of  every  dimension.  They  want  a  good  flint-glass  maker.  A* 
this  manufactory  must  be  of  great  public  utility,  it  is  to  be  presumed  they  will  receive  the  greatest  encouragement  from  all  (American) 
glass  dealers,  (e) 


a  Stiles  History  of  Brooklyn,  vol.  i,  page  309.          d  See  Munsell's  Annali  of  Albany,  vol.  ii,  p.  205. 

6  New  York  Colonial  Documents,  vii,  page  889.        e  Quoted  from  The  Appolo,  p.  416,  by  The  Historical  Magazine,  2d  S.,  vii,  p.  16. 

o  See  Munsell's  AnnaU  of  Albany,  vol.  x,  pp.  219,220. 

1131 


94  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

The  new  proprietors,  McCallen,  McGregor  &  Co.,  offered  in  1793  a  reward  of  $50  for  the  discovery  of  a  bank  of 
sand  suitable  for  their  use  situated  within  ten  miles  of  their  works.  In  1796,  for  the  purpose  of  consolidating  and 
extending  tbe  operations,  a  village  ten  miles  west  of  Albany  was  laid  out  and  named  Hamilton,  in  compliment  to 
Alexander  Hamilton,  and  in  the  spring  of  1797  the  Hamilton  Manufacturing  Company  was  chartered  by  the  state, 
and  the  company  and  its  workmen  exempted  from  taxes  for  five  years.  This  works  was  one  of  the  most  extensive 
glass  works  at  that  time  in  the  United  States.  Beside  other  enterprises  in  other  lines  of  industry,  they  had  two 
glass  houses,  with  three  large  furnaces,  employing  about  thirteen  glass-blowers,  and  making  an  average  of  20,000  fewt 
of  window-glass  per  month,  beside  bottles  and  flint-glass.  It  is  stated  that  they  substituted  kelp  for  pearlash  in  the 
manufacture  of  glass.  Their  glass,  however,  was  in  good  repute,  and  the  business  was  actively  carried  on  for  some 
years.  Munsell  states  that  this  works  suspended  in  1815  for  want  of  fuel,  (a)  4 

The  next  factory  of  which  I .  have  been  able  to  find  any  record  is  the  Eensselaer  glass  factory,  which  was 
incorporated  by  the  legislature  of  the  state  March  21,  1806.  In  1809  two  more  glass  works — the  Madison  and  the 
Woodstock  Glass  Manufacturing  Associations — were  also  chartered,  but  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  any  details  of 
either.  In  the  census  for  1810,  however,  four  glass  works  are  reported :  one  in  Albany  county,  two  in  Rensselaer, 
and  one  in  Ontario.  These  works  made  that  year  3,805,000  square  feet  of  glass,  which  was  valued  by  the  marshals 
at  16  cents  per  square  foot.  In  1810  or  1811,  according  to  Mr.  Jarves,  a  company  was  formed  in  Utica  for  the 
manufacture  of  window-glass,  and  quite  a  number  of  workmen  from  the  Essex-street  works  (Boston,  Massachusetts) 
were  induced  to  leave  their  employment  and  break  their  indentures  by  the  offer  of  increased  wages,  but  while  they 
were  on  their  way  to  the  New  York  house,  and  just  before  they  reached  the  state  line,  they,  with  the  agent  of  the 
Utica  works,  were  arrested,  brought  back,  and  an  expensive  lawsuit  resulted.  Mr.  Jarves  states  that  the  latter 
works  were  abandoned  and  never  revived.  In  the  private  journal  of  De  Witt  Clinton  for  the  year  1810,  when,  as 
one  of  the  commissioners  of  the  state  of  New  York,  he  examined  the  country  between  the  lakes  and  the  waters  of  the 
Hudson,  appear  several  references  to  the  glass  works  of  the  state,  and  under  date  of  Geneva,  August  9, 1810,  he  writes : 

A  glass  manufactory  is  erecting  abont  two  miles  from  the  village.  It  was  incorporated  last  winter,  and  a  little  village  is  already 
rising  up  around  it. 

One  week  later  he  writes : 

We  entered  the  town  of  Vernon,  in  which  three  glass  houses  are  in  contemplation ;  one  has  been  in  operation  some  time.  It  is  rather 
to  be  regretted  that  this  business  is  overdone.  Beside  the  glass  introduced  from  Pittsburgh,  and  from  a  glass  house  iu  Pennsylvania,  on 
the  borders  of  Orange  county,  and  the  glass  imported  from  Europe,  there  are  ten  manufactories  in  the  state  already,  or  about  to  be 
established ;  oue  in  Guilderland,  Albany  county,  one  in  Eensselaer  county,  three  in  Vernon,  Oueida  county,  one  in  Utica,  Oneida  county, 
one  in  Rome,  Oneida  county,  one  in  Peterborough,  Madison  county,  and  one  in  Woodstock,  Ulster  county. 

In  1818  the  manufacture  of  window-glass  was  begun  at  Sand  Lake,  in  Eensselaer  county,  by  Messrs.  Crandall 
&  Fox.  This  locality  was  selected  on  account  of  its  abounding  both  in  sand  and  in  fuel,  but  a  few  years'  trial 
convinced  the  proprietors  that  the  place  was  ill-chosen,  and  the  location  was  abandoned.  (6)  In  1845  Mr.  Samuel 
H.  Fox,  a  son  of  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the  Sand  Lake  works,  built  a  factory  at  Durhamville,  which  was  in 
existence  in  the  census  year.  The  Utica  Observer,  in  an  article  published  some  months  since,  claimed  for  Mr. 
S.  H.  Fox,  one  of  the  proprietors  of  this  works,  and  one  of  the  oldest  living  glass-makers  in  the  country,  that  he 
was  the  first  in  the  country  to  introduce  soda-ash  into  the  manufacture  of  glass,  as  he  was  the  first  in  the  state  to 
utilize  coal  in  the  furnaces  and  to  introduce  wheel  ovens. 

From  the  census  of  1820  it  appears  that  there  were  two  window-glass  factories  in  Madison  county  of  this  state, 
each  containing  two  furnaces,  with  ten  pots  each.  In  Oneida  county  there  was  one  cylinder  window-glass  factory  in 
operation,  and  one  crown-glass  factory  idle.  In  Ulster  county  there  were  two  window-glass  factories,  manufacturing 
800,000  square  feet  a  year ;  but  of  these  works  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  any  further  details.  In  1820  some 
workmen  left  the  New  England  glass  works  at  Cambridgeport,  Massachusetts,  and  built  a  factory  in  New  York 
city,  the  business  beiug  conducted  under  the  firm  name  of  Fisher  &  Gillerland;  but  in  1823  the  partnership  was 
dissolved,  and  Mr.  Gillerland  built  a  works  in  Brooklyn.  In  1823  there  was  a  manufactory  of  glass  globes  at 
Albany  "on  a  scale  which  promised  to  supply  the  United  States  with  the  article".  At  the  tariff  convention  which 
was  held  in  New  York  in  1831  three  flint-glass  factories,  with  twenty-two  pots,  were  reported  in  existence  in  New 
York  and  vicinity,  and  two  cylinder  window-glass  factories :  one  at  Geneva,  and  the  other  at  Hamilton ;  but  of 
these,  except  the  fact  of  their  existence,  no  details  were  given.  In  1832  the  Eedford  Crown  Glass  Company  was 
incorporated  and  began  the  manufacture  of  crown  glass  in  Clinton  county,  making  a  very  good  quality  until  1841, 
when  it  failed.  In  1846  crown  glass  was  again  made  at  these  works.  Of  the  establishment  and  history  of  the  later 
glass  works  no  record  at  all  has  been  procured. 

GLASS-MAKING  IN  CONNECTICUT. 

Information  regarding  the  early  history  of  glass-making  in  Connecticut  is  exceedingly  meager.  It  appears, 
however,  that  in  1747  a  patent  was  granted  by  the  legislature  to  Thomas  Darling  for  the  exclusive  privilege  of 
making  glass  for  twenty  years.  This  act  appears  to  have  become  void  because  of  the  patentee's  failing  to  fulfill  its 

a  Sec  Muiisell's  Annals  of  Albany. 

b  This  is  Mr.  Jarves'  statement  of  the  close  of  the  works.     It  would  appear,  however,  from  a  newspaper  paragraph  regarding  th» 
Durhamville  works,  that  the  Sand  Lake  factory  was  in  existence  until  1852,  when  it  was  burned  down. 
1132 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  95 

conditions,  and  at  various  times  after  this  special  grants  were  made  to  others  to  introduce  its  manufacture;  but 
how  successful  these  were  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  out.  It  seems  that  a  few  years  after  the  organixarion  of  the 
Essex-street  factory  in  Boston,  which  was  built  in  1787,  a  glass  house  was  in  operation  in  Hartford,  Connecticut, 
and  from  a  reference  in  Washington's  diary  (1789)  it  would  appear  that  glass  was  made  in.  New  Haven.  In  the 
census  of  1820  two  glass  works  are  reported  in  existence  in  Hartford  county,  Connecticut,  producing  $27,360  worth 
of  glass  annually.  Bottle-glass  is  also  reported  as  made  in  Hartford  county  at  the  census  of  1820  to  the  extent  of 
$3,350  annually.  At  the  tariff  convention  held  in  New  York  in  1831  a  window- glass  works  is  reported  as  in 
operation  at  Wellington.  In  the  census  of  1840  two  establishments  are  reported  in  Tolland  county,  making  $32,000 
worth  annually;  one  of  these  was  probably  the  Wellington  works.  In  1850  but  one  establishment  is  reported;  in 
1860  two  establishments  in  Windham  county;  and  in  1870  three  establishments.  Of  these  works  I  have  been  able 
to  get  no  information  other  than  the  fact  of  their  existence.  *  At  the  census  of  1880  but  one  establishment  was  in 
existence  in  the  state,  the  flint-glass  works  at  Meriden. 

GLASS-MAKING  IN  MARYLAND. 

On  May  26, 1790,  Mr.  John  Frederick  Amelung  presented  a  petition  to  the  national  House  of  Representatives, 
asking  that  the  patronage  of  the  government  be  extended  to  his  glass  manufactory  at  New  Bremen,  in  Maryland. 
This  is  no  doubt  the  works  to  which  Mr.  Carroll,  of  that  state,  alluded  in  his  speech  of  April  17,  1789,  when  he 
moved  that  a  duty  be  placed  on  window  and  other  glass,  with  the  exception  of  black  quart  bottles.  Mr.  Carroll's 
reason  for  his  motion  was  that  the  manufacture  of  window-glass  had  been  begun  in  Maryland,  and  had  been  attended 
with  considerable  success,  and  he  believed  that  with  small  encouragement  it  would  be  permanently  established. 
Mr.  Carroll's  motion  was  successful,  and  in  the  first  tariff  law  passed  under  the  present  Constitution  a  duty  of  10 
per  cent,  ad  valorem  was  levied  on  the  kinds  of  glass  mentioned.  The  patronage  that  Mr.  Amelnng  desired  was  a 
loan  from  Congress.  The  investigation  and  discussion  that  followed  is  memorable  as  raising,  and  for  the  time  being 
deciding,  the  policy  of  Congress  relative  to  bounties  and  protection.  The  committee  to  which  was  referred  Mr. 
Amelung's  petition  for  "  patronage"  reported  June  30, 1790,  authorizing  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United 
States  to  make  him  a  loan,  not  exceeding  $8,000,  Mr.  Amelung  giving  satisfactory  security  for  the  reimbursement 
of  the  same  within  a  certain  number  of  years.  In  the  debate  which  followed  the  presentation  of  this  resolution  a 
history  of  this  gentleman's  exertions  in  endeavoring  to  establish  an  American  glass  manufactory  was  given  by 
Mr.  Carroll.  He  commenced  in  1775,  brought  into  the  country  upward  of  200  persons,  mostly  glass-workers,  and 
had  expended  at  that  time  over  £20,000  in  the  undertaking.  Owing  to  a  variety  of  accidents,  and  particularly  to 
the  extraordinary  rise  in  the  price  of  grain,  he  now  found  himself  "  greatly  embarrassed  in  prosecuting  the  business; 
but  stated  if  he  could  be  so  far  patronized  by  the  government  as  to  be  favored  with  a  loan  of  $15,000  or  $20.000  it 
would  afford  him  such  relief  as  would  enable  him  to  surmount  every  difficulty". 

Congress,  however,  did  not  look  upon  this  appeal  favorably.  Some  of  the  members  doubted  the  constitutional 
power  of  Congress  to  loan  money  in  this  way;  others  objected  to  it  on  account  of  the  precedent  it  would  establish, 
while  others  urged  that  the  encouragement  and  assistance  could  be  asked  for  with  more  propriety  from  the  state 
government.  Mr.  Boudinot  gave  an  account  of  the  manufactory,  and  said :  "  I  have  seen  the  glass  made  in  it, 
which  is  superior  to  any  ever  produced  in  America."  He  contended  that  Congress  had  a  right  by  the  Constitution 
to  loan  the  money,  and  cited  several  instances  in  point.  He  enlarged  on  the  merits  of  the  petitioner  "in  embarking 
such  large  property  to  prosecute  a  business  of  so  general  utility",  and  pointed  out  the  consequences  which  would 
result  from  a  "failure  of  this  application,  which  would  be  greatly  injurious  to  the  petitioner  and  to  the  public ". 
The  report,  however,  was  negatived,  and  the  question  between  bounties  and  protection  was  virtually  decided  by 
this  debate.  In  1794  Mr.  Amelung  presented  a  petition  for  an  increase  of  duties,  and  in  this  he  was  joined  by 
others,  among  them  Thomas  Whalley  and  his  associates,  of  Boston,  Massachusetts.  Mr.  Amelung's  works  appears 
to  have  been  originally  built  on  Tuscarora  creek,  four  miles  above  Fredericktown,  and  were  known  as  the  Etna 
glass  works.  Window-glass  and  wine  bottles  were  made,  and  it  is  probable  that  some  of  the  workmen  from  this 
factory  were  among  those  that  crossed  the  mountain  to  New  Geneva  and  aided  Albert  Gallatiu  to  establish  their 
manufacture  ou  the  Monongahela.  The  works  of  Amelung  were  moved  to  Baltimore  "in  1788,  and  located  on  the 
south  side  of  the  basin",  and  an  account  of  Baltimore,  published  some  years  since,  declares  "  they  still  continue". 
InLossiug's  Home  of  Washington  (pages  204-205)  is  an  extract  from  a  letter  of  a  gentleman  of  Cincinnati  describing 
the  presentation  to  Washington  by  Mr.  Amelung  of  two  flint  goblets  bearing  the  general's  coat-of-arms.  Amelung's 
ventures  did  not  succeed,  and  it  is  possible  that  he  crossed  the  mountains  to  Pittsburgh  with  some  of  his  glass- 
workers,  (a) 

In  1790,  according  to  Howard,  a  factory  known  as  the  "  Baltimore  glass  works"  was  established  on  Federal 
Hill.  Colonel  Scharf,  in  his  Chronicles  of  Baltimore,  page  236,  makes  the  date  1799.  This  was  the  window-glass 
works  at  present  operated  by  Baker  Brothers  &  Co.,  and  still  known  by  the  same  name.  This  firm  also  have  flint 
and  green  glass  houses.  Concerning  the  latter,  they  write  me  that  it  was  originally  established  in  1790,  though 
the  present  works  date  only  from  1852 ;  the  fliijt  works  date  from  1873. 


a  Cnming-'s  Journal,  page  66,  speaks  of  a  Mr.  Amelnng,  a  glass-worker,  at  Pittsburgh. 


96  MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

The  census  of  1810  gives  statements  of  three  glass  works  in  this  state,  two  in  Frederick  county,  at  which  40,000 
square  feet  of  window-glass  and  7,000  bottles  were  made,  and  one  in  Baltimore  county,  at  which  500,000  square  feet 
of  window-glass  were  produced. 

The  census  of  1820  reports  a  glass  works  in  Alleghany  county,  at  which  both  window-glass  and  hollow  ware  were 
made,  and  gives  the  date  of  the  establishment  of  the  works  as  1817.  The  value  of  the  products  is  given  as 
$30,000,  thirty  men  and  eight  children  and  youths  being  employed.  The  same  census  gives  statistics  of  a  window- 
glass  works  in  Baltimore  county  that  had  been  in  operation  twenty  years,  and  was  producing  3,400  boxes  annually, 
valued  at  from  $8  to  $10  a  box. 

At  the  tariff  convention  held  in  New  York  in  October,  1831,  two  flint-glass  furnaces,  with  twelve  pots,  were 
reported  in  operation  in  Baltimore ;  also  one  cylinder  window-glass  factory  in  Baltimore  and  one  in  Cumberland ; 
but  no  details  are  given  of  the  same. 

The  works  other  than  the  above  at  present  in  existence  in  Maryland  are  of  comparatively  recent  date,  and  are 
all  situated  in  Baltimore,  with  the  exception  of  a  glassware  factory  building  at  Cumberland. 

GLASS-MAKING  IN  NEW  JEESEY.  (a) 

The  first  glass  factory  in  New  Jersey  was  located  about  2J  miles  from  Allowaystown,  Salem  county,  and  was 
built  some  time  from  1760  to  1765  by  a  German  named  Wistar,  who  brought  a  company  of  workmen  with  him  from 
Germany.  He  carried  on  the  works  a  few  years,  and  failed  about  the  outbreak  of  the  revolutionary  war,  and  upon 
his  failure,  in  1775,  the  workmen  went  to  what  is  now  known  as  Glassborough,  Gloucester  county.  Two  objects  led 
to  the  selection  of  this  place  as  a  site  for  works :  it  was  so  far  inland  that  the  operations  were  not  interfered 
with  by  the  armies,  and  it  was  a  yellow-pine  country,  which  wood  was  better  for  melting  glass  than  the  oak  of 
Allowaystown.  Mr.  Bodine  is  of  the  opinion  that  "the  principal  kind  of  glass  made  was  hollow  ware  or  bottles; 
but  from  some  recollections  of  an  old  man  that  descended  from  and  knew  some  of  the  old  Glassborough  settlers 
and  heard  them  talk  when  he  was  a  boy,  I  think  part  of  them,  if  not  all,  could  make  both  bottles  and  window-glass, 
such  as  was  used  in  those  days". 

The  blowers  at  these  works  also  made  the  pots,  cut  the  glass  into  lights,  and  packed  the  same.  In  the  scheme  of 
division  of  labor  in  more  modern  works  each  of  these  operations  is  a  separate  branch  of  work.  At  this  works  the 
bottles  were  made  without  molds,  and  crown-glass  was  made.  Mr.  Bodine  says : 

I  knew  some  blowers,  when  I  was  a  small  boy,  that  were  then  old  men,  and  could  make  both  bottles  and  window-glass.  I  have  been 
unable  to  fix  a  time  when  window-glass  commenced  to  be  made  in  cylinder  form.  I  find  that  about  1812  or  1813  a  crown-glass  (window- 
lights)  factory  was  started  up  the  Delaware  river,  10  miles  from  Belvidere,  at  a  place  called  Columbia,  in  what  was  then  Sussex  county, 
.  now  being  Warren  county.  This  factory  run  until  1833,  when  it  ceased  operations.  I  personally  know  of  cylinder  window-glass  being 
made  in  1827  or  1828  at  Millville.  About  the  time  of  starting  the  Columbia  works  a  factory  was  started  at  a  place  called  Clemonton,  now 
in  Camden  county,  where  bottles  were  made  part  of  the  time  and  window-glass  the  balance.  My  informant  worked  at  Clemonton  in 
1814  as  an  apprentice,  learning  to  blow. 

About  the  years  1814  and  1815  there  were  factories  started  at  Port  Elizabeth,  Cumberland  county,  and  at  Malaga, 
Gloucester  county.  Both  of  these  were  run  as  window- glass  factories,  and  in  1816  to  1819  Tuckahoe  and  Hammonton 
were  started  and  manufactured  principally  window-glass. 

The  next  works  was  Millville,  started  in  about  1822.  For  some  years  after  this  no  new  works  were  started, 
until  1827,  when  between  that  date  and  1832  Waterford,  Jackson,  old  Brooklyn,  and  Winston  were  built.  These 
last-mentioned  places  were  in  what  was  Gloucester,  now  Camden  county.  The  next  location  was  Squankum, 
now  Williamstown,  built  in  1835,  making  bottles;  then  Estilville,  Bridgeton,  and  Temperanceville  (now  part  of 
Glassborough),  built  in  1836  and  1837;  then  Jersey  City  flint-glass  works,  built  in  1840  or  1845.  Somewhere  about 
this  date  there  was  a  flint-glass  works  built  at  Kaigu's  Point,  now  part  of  Camden.  Then  Greenbank,  1840  to  1845; 
New  Columbia,  1845  to  1848 ;  Jausboro',  1848 ;  Balsto,  about  1850  ;  Crowleytown,  1850  to  1851 ;  Clayton  and  New 
Brooklyn,  about  1851  to  1852;  Medford,  Milford,  and  Lebanon,  1855 ;  Bulltown,  1858;  Quinton,  1858  to  1860;  Salem, 
1863;  Westville,  1868;  Eiverside  and  Herman  City,  about  1870. 

There  was  a  glass  works  started  at  Elizabethport  some  twenty -five  years  ago  and  run  for  a  short  time ;  also, 
one  started  in  Camden  about  1868,  and  run  for  a  short  time. 

This  makes  in  all  thirty-seven  locations  in  New  Jersey.  Of  these  the  following  have  gone  out  of  existence 
entirply:  Allowaystown,  Columbia,  Clementon,  Tuckahoe,  Hammonton,  Jackson,  Old  Brooklyn,  Estilville, 
Greenbank,  New  Columbia,  Balsto,  Crowleytown,  Kaign's  Point,  Milltown,  Bulltown,  Lebanon,  Westville,  Jersey 
City,  and  Elizabethport — nineteen  in  all;  two  run  two  years,  one  three  years,  two  five  years,  two  ten  years,  four 
fifteen  years,  four  twenty  years,  two  thirty  years,  one  thirty-five  years,  one  forty-five  years,  while  Waterford, 
Medford,  Camden,  New  Brooklyn,  Eiverside,  Herman  City,  and  Port  Elizabeth,  seven  in  all,  have  not  run  for  several 
years. 

The  balance  of  the  locations,  eleven  in  all,  have  forty -five  furnaces,  of  which  thirty-nine  furnaces  have  run  the 
past  year,  to  wit :  twelve  window-glass,  twenty-one  green  hollow  ware,  and  six  lime  or  white  glass.  Four  of  the 
green  hollow  ware  and  the  six  lime  or  white  glass  furnaces  are  situated  at  Millville,  and  are  run  by  one  firm, 
Messrs.  Whitall,  Tatum  &  Co. 


a  For  most  of  the  data  contained  in  the  very  interesting  account  of  glass-making  in  New  Jersey  I  am  indebted  to  Hon.  John  T 
Bodine,  of  Williamstown,  New  Jersey,  whose  personal  recollections  extend  back  fifty -three  years. 
1134 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  97 

About  four  miles  below  Millville  are  located  the  largest  beds  of  glass-house  sand  in  the  state,  sand  beiug  dug 
for  the  Millville  and  the  Philadelphia,  New  York,  and  Boston  factories.  The  pits  have  been  opened  for  more  than 
fifty  years.  There  are  also  large  sand-beds  near  Williainstown  that  supply  twelve  factories  a  thousand  tons  each 
per  year.  There  is  sand  in  very  many  other  localities  in  south  Jersey,  but  there  is  none  better  than  the  Maurice 
river,  Millville,  or  Williamstown  sand. 

Up  to  1855  care  was  taken  to  locate  glass  works  upon  or  near  to  large  tracts  of  woodlanu.  About  the  year 
1856  the  factories  in  New  Jersey  commenced  to  use  anthracite  coal,  and  since  that  time  the  pots  have  been  enlarged 
at  various  times  until  they  are  more  than  three  times  the  size  they  were  when  wood  was  used  for  melting.  Mr. 
Bodine  says : 

The  use  of  coal  has  made  locations  of  glass  factories  at  places  other  than  upon  water  navigation  in  New  Jersey  very  expensive, 
even  with  railroaas.  The  cost  of  freight  in  getting  coal  and  materials  to  and  manufactured  products  from  the  marketable  points  of 
Philadelphia  and  New  York  is  about  9  to  10  per  cent,  of  the  gross  receipts  of  manufactured  goods,  while  the  only  offset  thereto  is  about 
2  per  cent,  in  the  cost  of  sand  and  wood  for  annealing  the  ware.  Many  of  the  New  Jersey  works  have  been  located  where  wood  could  be 
used.  If  the  locations  were  abandoned,  aiid  the  works  removed  to  the  large  consuming  points,  the  whole  plant,  so  far  as  the  building 
is  concerned,  would  be  lost.  I  find  twenty-six  of  the  factories  among  the  forty-five  contained  in  the  eleven  locations  upon  water 
navigation,  and  but  for  the  advantage  of  water  transportation  we  should  not  have  as  many  glass  factories  as  we  now  have. 

GLASS-MAKING  IN  OHIO. 

The  information  regarding  glass-making  in  this  state  is  exceedingly  meager.  It  does  not  appear  among  the 
manufactures  of  the  state  at  the  census  of  1810.  In  1811  John  Mellish,  in  his  Travels,  suggests  that  a  well- 
organized  manufactory  of  glass  bottles  would  succeed,  intimating  that  no  such  works  existed.  An  account  of 
Cincinnati,  of  date  of  June,  1815,  states  that  a  manufactory  of  green  and  window-glass  and  hollow  ware  was  about 
to  go  into  operation,  to  be  followed  the  ensuing  summer  by  another  for  white  flint.  Palmer's  Travels  in  1817 
speaks  of  two  glass  houses  in  operation.  The  census  of  1820  enumerates  "  glass,  window,  and  hollow  ware, 
chemical  and  philosophical  apparatus  ",  as  among  the  manufactures  of  Hamilton  county,  the  value  of  the  product 
being  $19,000,  and  the  statement  is  made  that  the  works  are  languishing,  owing  to  the  supply  overrunning  the  demand. 
Glass,  both  cut,  flint,  and  window,  was  also  reported  as  made  at  this  census  in  Muskingum  county,  (a)  At  the  tariff 
convention  held  in  New  York  in  1831  a  window-glass  works  is  reported  at  Zauesville  aud  another  at  Moscow, 
while  at  the  censnts  of  1840  none  are  reported.  In  1850  Ohio  is  credited  with  six  works ;  in  18(50  with  four,  and  in 
1870  with  nine,  three  of  which  are  reported  as  plate,  probably  window-glass,  and  six  as  glassware.  Of  the  history 
of  these  several  establishments  I  have  no  details. 

GLASS-MAKING  IN  MISSOURI.  (6) 

As  early  as  1842  efforts  were  made  to  establish  the  manufacture  of  glass  at  Saint  Louis.  In  that  year  a 
company  of  gentlemen,  with  Mr.  James  B.  Eads,  who  has  since  become  known  in  connection  with  the  magnificent 
Saint  Louis  bridge  and  the  jetties  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  river,  established  the  works  now  known  as  the 
Saint  Louis  glass  works.  This  works  at  first  made  flint-glass  tumblers,  etc.,  and  it  is  stated  that  Mr.  Eads,  finding  it 
impossible  to  get  the  proper  workmen,  himself  made  the  pots  used  in  this  factory.  Five  years  of  toil  and  vexation 
was  the  only  result,  and  he  and  his  associates,  finding  success  impossible,  were  forced  to  suspend  payment  and 
abandoned  further  effort.  To  the  credit  of  Colonel  Eads,  it  should  be  stated  that  in  after  years  he  paid  up  every 
dollar  of  indebtedness  incurred.  Thus  the  first  glass-making  venture  west  of  the  Mississippi  river  passed  into 
history  as  a  failure.  The  factory  was  changed  to  a  green-bottle  works  by  Mr.  Eads'  successors,  and  then  in  1854 
back  to  a  flint  works.  In  1855-'56  a  green-bottle  house  was  added,  and  in  1861  Bayot  &  Cummingstook  the  works, 
since  which  it  has  been  a  flint  house,  now  manufacturing  only  flint  bottles. 

The  second  works,  those  of  the  Missouri  Glass  Company,  began  operations  in  1851,  making  window-glass, 
but  ceased  after  running  two  years,  remaining  idle  until  1856,  when  they  were  purchased  and  changed  to  flint- 
glass;  but  after  sinking  considerable  sums  in  fruitless  efforts  the  parties  owning  them  sold  out  and  abandoned 
the  field.  These  works,  then,  like  the  Saint  Louis  glass  works,  became  the  property  of  various  persons,  who 
at  different  times  encountered  unvarying  failures,  until  at  last,  in  1865,  operations  were  wholly  abandoned  and 
the  building  taken  for  the  manufacture  of  agricultural  machinery.  The  other  Saint  Louis  glass  works  have  all 
been  established  since  1870. 

GLASS-MAKING  IN  OTHER  STATES. 

As  to  the  history  of  glass  in  other  states  but  little  has  been  learned.  Glass  has  been  made  in  Vermont,  but  there 
is  none  made  at  present.  Two  glass-houses  are  reported  in  that  state  at  the  census  of  1840,  one  in  Addison  and 
one  in  Chittenden  county,  but  none  are  reported  in  1850, 1860,  or  1870,  nor  at  the  present  census.  In  Ehode  Island 
no/glass,  as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  learn,  was  ever  made,  and  the  same  is  true  of  Maine  and  Delaware.  In  the 
southern  states,  with  the  exception  of  Virginia,  Kentucky,  and  possibly  Tennessee,  I  can  find  no  record  of  glass- 
making.  . 

a  I  have  seen  a  statement  that  this  Zanesville  works  was  the  first  in  Ohio,  but  I  have  been  unable  to  verify  it. 
6  For  the  facts  in  this  sketch  I  am  indebted  chiefly  to  an  article  in  the  Saint  Louis  Trade  Review  and  to  Mr.  J.  K.  Cummings,  of  Saint 
Louis. 

1135 


98  MANUFACTUEE  OF  GLASS. 

It  has  already  been  stated  that  the  glass-blowers  that  Albert  Gallatin  induced  to  aid  him  in  starting  the  Few 
Geneva  works  were  on  their  way  to  establish  a  glass  house  near  Louisville,  Kentucky;  but  it  seems  to  have  been 
many  years  before  any  other  glass-makers  sought  this  state  to  practice  their  art.  Cramer's  Navigator  for  1814 
states  that  a  glass  house  had  lately  been  built  at  Louisville,  but  neither  the  census  of  1820  nor  that  of  1880  gives 
any  evidence  of  the  existence  of  this  factory.  At  that  of  1840  one  glass-cutting  establishment  is  reported  in  Kentucky, 
but  no  glass  works.  In  1850  no  glass  works  is  reported,  though  the  Covington  flint-glass  works  was  established 
in  1848.  In  1860  statistics  of  one  glassware  establishment  are  given  in  Jefferson  county,  in  which  Louisville 
is  situated,  but  no  facts  are  given  regarding  Kenton  county,  in  which  Covington  is  located,  though  the  Covington 
glass  works  inform  me  that  their  flint-house  was  established  in  1848,  and  their  green-glass  house  in  1860.  In  1870 
three  works  are  reported. 

The  statement  is  frequently  made  that  the  first  glass  works  west  of  Cincinnati  was  built  at  Alton,  Illinois,  and 
in  the  returns  received  from  the  Alton  factory  the  date  of  establishment  of  this  works  is  given  as  1867.  No  glass  is 
reported  as  made  in  this  state  in  any  of  the  censuses  until  that  of  1870.  A  similar  statement  can  be  made  of 
Indiana.  Michigan  has  no  place  in  the  several  censuses  as  a  manufacturer  of  glass.  No  glass  is  reported  as  made 
in  Wisconsin  at  any  census,  though  an  establishment  was  started  shortly  after  the  close  of  the  census  year  1880. 
Mississippi  was  building  a  works  during  the  census  year.  Glass-making  was  established  in  California  in  1863.  or 

at  least  a  works  was  in  operation,  but  of  the  details  of  its  history  I  have  no  record. 

/ 

HISTOEY  OF  THE  MANUFACTURE  OF  PLATE-GLASS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES,  (a) 

It  is  probable  that  the  first  attempt  to  manufacture  in  this  country  what  is  now  known  as  plate-glass  was 
made  at  Cheshire,  Massachusetts,  though  some  rough  cast  plate  may  have  been  made  earlier  at  some  of  the  window- 
glass  works.  The  extensive  deposits  at  this  place  of  exceedingly  good  sand,  which  was  at  one  time  supposed  to  be  the 
only  sand  in  the  country  from  which  good  glass  could  be  made,  no  doubt  had  much  to  do  with  this  early  attempt 
to  make  plate-glass  and  determined  the  location  of  the  works.  In  1850  a  window-glass  factory  was  erected  at 
Cheshire,  which  was  run  for  two  years  on  blown  glass.  In  1852-;53  this. was  changed  to  a  rough  cast-plate  factory. 
A  large  amount  of  money  was  expended  in  fitting  up  the  works  and  putting  in  the  necessary  machinery  and  tools, 
but  it  was  operated  only  for  about  six  months,  when  the  tables,  tools,  fixtures,  etc.,  were  removed  to  Brooklyn,  New 
York,  and  a  factory  was  there  fitted  up  and  operated  through  1854  and  1855.  Very  little  glass  of  a  merchantable 
quality  was  made,  and  in  1856  the  works  were  abandoned,  (6)  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  the  failure,  no  doubt,  being 
the  small  scale  on  which  the  works  were  projected  and  operated  and  the  inexperience  of  the  promoters.  The 
manufacture  of  plate-glass  requires  large  capital  and  experience,  and  it  was  not  until  these  were  brought  together 
that  the  plate-glass  industry  was  firmly  established  in  this  country  and  the  product  could  compete  with  the 
foreign. 

The  second  effort  was  made  at  Lenox  Furnace,  Massachusetts.  In  1853  a  glass  works  was  erected  at  this  place 
at  a  cost  of  $30,000  for  making  window-glass  by  the  Lenox  iron  works,  a  corporation  owned  by  William  A. 
Phelps,  Oliver  Peck,  and  James  Collins,  who  ran  the  works  for  about  two  years  on  window-glass  at  a  loss.  In  the 
fall  of  1855  the  window-glass  business  was  abandoned.  This  property  was  leased  with  contract  to  sell  to  James 
N-.  Richmond,  who  organized  a  company  called  the  National  Plate  Glass  Company,  and  was  converted  into  a 
plate-glass  factory.  The  company  spent  a  large  amount  of  money  in  reorganizing  the  establishment  and 
experimenting,  having  bought  the  tables  and  tools  of  the  Brooklyn  company.  In  1856,  after  a  heavy  loss,  the 
company  failed,  and  in  1857  the  property  came  back  to  the  original  owners,  who  started  up  the  works  and 
continued  to  run  them  with  success  till  the  spring  of  1865.  In  1862  the  factory  buildings,  with  a  large  amount  of 
glass,  were  destroyed  by  fire.  There  was  no  insurance,  and  the  loss  was  over  $25,000.  In  1865  a  company  was 
organized,  called  the  Lenox  Plate  Glass  Company,  consisting  of  the  old  parties  with  Messrs.  Theodore  and  James 
Eoosevelt,  of  New  York  city.  Up  to  this  time  only  rough  plate  was  made,  but  it  was  the  intention  of  this  company 
to  commence  polishing  as  soon  as  suitable  machinery  could  be  obtained.  It  is  worthy  of  notice  that,  although 
for  a  number  of  years  plate-glass  had  been  produced  in  England  and  in  France,  there  had  been  scarcely  any 
improvemeuts  in  the  machinery  used.  Some  few  years  previous  to  this  parties  in  the  western  part  of  the  state  of 
New  York  had  invented  and  patented  a  machine  for  grinding  and  polishing  marble  slabs,  and  this  was  found  to 
work  admirably  in  polishing  glass ;  but  through  the  influence  of  Mr.  John  II.  Plattc,  then  agent  for  the  British 
Plate  Glass  Company  of  England,  the  owners  of  the  patent  were  induced  to  put  up  one  of  these  machines  for  the 
company,  on  condition  that  if  the  working  was  satisfactory  they  were  to  buy  t^ie  patent.  The  machine  worked 
with  satisfaction,  doing  its  work  in  much  less  time  than  the  old  system.  Mr.  Serviii  states  that  the  company  paid 
about  $50,000  for  the  patent.  The  principle  of  this  machine  is  now  generally  used,  though  with  improvements,  in 

a  The  statements  of  fact  contained  in  this  history  are  derived  chiefly  from  letters  from  Mr.  A.  T.  Servin,  of  Lenox,  Massachusetts, 
Mr.  E.  Ford,  of  Jeffersonville,  Indiana,  and  Mr.  E.  A.  Hitchcock,  of  Saint  Louis,  and  from  Mr.  W.  C.  De  Pauw's  testimony  before  the 
tariff  commission. 

b  This  is  Mr.  Servin's  statement.     Mr.  Ford,  however,  states  that  the  first  attempt  was  made  at  Williamsburg,  New  York,  in  1850, 
on  a  small  scale,  for  the  manufacture  of  rough  plate-glass  only,  but  was  abandoned.     The  next  effort,  he  states,  was  by  the  same  party 
at  Green  Point,  New  York,  but  this  was  also  a  failure.     This,  Mr.  Ford  states,  was  the  parent  of  the  Lenox  works. 
1136 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS.  99 

polishing  plate.  About  this  time  the  Lenox  Plate  Glass  Company  was  organized.  The  inventor  having  patented 
another  machine  in  1866  and  1867,  this  company  bought  the  patents  and  put  up  some  costly  machinery,  which 
was  not  completed  till  1868  and  1869.  About  this  time,  and  for  two  or  three  years  previous,  a  company  in 
Philadelphia  held  patents  for  making  cryolite,  a  mineral  from  Greenland,  into  a  material  called  cryolite  or  hot-cast 
porcelain,  resembling  white  marble  when  worked,  but  having  all  the  qualities  of  glass.  This  material  was  worked 
in  the  same  way  as  glass.  Through  statements  of  great  profits  in  this  manufacture  the  Lenox  company  were 
induced  to  allow  a  new  company  to  be  formed  January  1,  1870,  called  the  Lenox  Glass  Company,  which  took  all 
the  property  of  the  old  company  and  gave  the  Philadelphia  company  $200,000  for  their  patents,  also  purchasing 
a  large  amount  of  cryolite  from  them.  This  new  company  expended  a  large  amount  in  preparing  for  the  cryolite 
manufacture,  but  after  six  or  eight  months  working  it  was  found  to  be  a  perfect  failure,  resulting  in  a  total  loss 
to  the  company  of  the  cryolite  and  patents  purchased,  and  in  1871  the  company  failed.  The  furnace  has  since  been 
run  on  rough  plate  for  a  part  of  the  time.  In  1879  a  large  proportion  of  the  glass  property  was  sold  at  about  one- 
thirtieth  of  its  cost,  and  a  new  company  has  been  formed,  called  the  Lenox  glass  works. 

The  next  works  built  in  the  United  States  were  at  New  Albany,  Indiana,  and  it  was  here  that  polished  plate- 
glass  was  first  successfully  and  continuously  manufactured.  In  the  year  1869  Mr.  J.  B.  Ford  conceived  the  idea 
of  erecting  works  for  manufacturing  polished  plate-glass,  and  with  this  in  view  he  visited  Lenox,  gathered  what 
information  he  could  on  the  subject  from  the  workmen  there  who  had  been  employed  abroad,  and  returned  to  New 
Albany  with  a  determination  to  make  polished  plate.  He  immediately  entered  into  negotiations  with  manufacturers 
of  plate  glass  machinery  in  Europe,  and  purchased  one  each  of  the  best  machines  for  grinding,  smoothing,  and 
polishing,  and  while  wailing  for  their  arrival,  in  company  with  his  associates,  built  a  works  for  rough  plate. 
About  the  time  the  machinery  arrived  the  works  was  burned,  but  a  new  one  was  built  on  a  more  extended  scale. 
This  new  plant  was  measurably  successful,  but  had  to  undergo  the  reverses  that  seems  the  fate  of  all  plate-glass 
houses  in  this  country.  In  1872  Mr.  Ford  withdrew,  since  which  time  it  has  been  run  by  Mr.  W.  C.  De  Pauw,  who 
stated  before  the  tariff'  commission  that  until  1879  the  works  made  no  money,  though  the  quality  of  the  glass  for 
some  time  had  equaled  the  imported. 

In  the  same  year  that  he  withdrew  Mr.  Ford  organized  and  built  another  works  at  Louisville.  These  he 
managed  until  1875,  when  he  left,  there  and  organized  a  works  at  Jeffersonville,  Indiana,  the  city  having  offered 
him  some  ground  valued  at  $20,000.  These  works  have  been  largely  increased,  make  excellent  plate,  and  were, 
with  New  Albany  and  Crystal  City,  Missouri,  the  works  that  made  polished  plate  in  the  census  year. 

Shortly  after  the  organization  of  the  New  Albany  plate-glass  works  Mr.  E.  B.  Ward,  of  Detroit,  and  others, 
induced  by  the  very  extensive  deposit  of  sand  of  an  excellent  quality  at  Crystal  City,  Missouri,  organized  the 
American  Plate  Glass  Company,  with  a  capital  stock  of  $250,000,  and  began  in  1872  the  erection  of  works  at  the 
point  named,  this  sum  being  increased  in  January,  1874,  to  $500,000.  In  1875  the  manufacture  of  plate-glass  was 
begun,  though  with  appliances  much  inferior  to  those  now  in  use,  and  a  considerable  quantity  of  glass  of  good 
quality  was  produced.  The  usual  difficulties,  however,  which  attend  new  industries,  by  reason  of  lack  of  the 
requisite  experience,  were  encountered.  The  production  was  irregular  and  uncertain  as  to  quality,  and  in  1876  the 
work  was  suspended  for  several  mouths,  with  a  view  to  its  resumption  under  more  favorable  conditions.  In 
October,  1876,  the  enterprise  was  reorganized  by  the  formation  of  a  new  corporation  (the  present  Crystal  Plate 
Glass  Company),  composed  of  most  of  the  stockholders  in  the  old  company,  in  which  additional  capital  was 
invested,  and  which  acquired  the  entire  premises,  plant,  and  a  large  stock  of  materials  on  hand.  Mr.  E.  A. 
Hitchcock,  of  Saint  Louis,  president  of  the  old  company,  continued  in  charge  «,s  president.  During  the  winter 
of  1876-'77  preparations  were  made  for  resuming  work  under  such  conditions  as  to  profit  by  the  experience  already 
gained.  'Convinced  by  thorough  examination  of  its  superior  advantages,  a  Siemens  furnace  was  erected.  These 
works  have  since  been  largely  increased,  and  are  producing  plate-glass  the  equal  of  any  made  in  the  world. 

An  extensive  works  for  the  manufacture  of  plate-glass  is  also  being  built  at  Hite's  station,  on  the  West 
Pennsylvania  railroad,  near  Pittsburgh,  by  Mr.  Ford,  who  built  the  works  near  Louisville,  (a) 

Kegarding  the  manufacture  of  plate-glass  in  this  country,  Mr.  W.  C.  De  Panw,  in  his  paper  before  the  tariff 
commission,  made  some  statements  which  he  summarizes  as  follows : 

First.  That  all  money  put  into  plate-glass  works  in  America  prior  to  1879  had  been  a  total  loss. 

Second.  That  some  of  the  shrewdest,  most  energetic,  and  successful  business  men  in  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Detroit,  Chicago. 
Saint  Louis,  and  Louisville  had  in  the  aggregate  invested  millions  in  plate-glass  enterprises  and  lost  the  whole  of  it. 

Third.  That  no  plate-glass  had  been  made  in  America  without  loss  to  the  maker  prior  to  1879. 

Fourth.  That  I,  instead  of  having  made  a  large  fortune  in  a  few  years,  as  represented,  have  actually  lost  more  than  half  a  million 
dollars  over  and  above  all  (very  small)  profit  made  since  1878. 

Fifth.  That  after  a  long,  earnest  struggle,  I  have  succeeded  in  making  good  glazing  glass  at  a  small  profit. 

Sixth.  That  Americans  are  paying  about  half  as  much  for  plate-glass  to-day  as  they  paid  prior  to  the  time  plate-glass  was  made  in 
tho  United  States  at  my  works. 

IMPORTS  OF  GLASS  INTO  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

In  order  to  show  the  amount  of  glass  received  into  this  country,  I  append  a  table  giving  the  imports  of  glass 
into  this  country  in  the  years  1876  to  1880,  showing  quantities  and  values  so  far  as  they  are  given  iu  the  reports  of 
the  bureau  of  statistics,  and  also  the  value  of  each  unit  of  quantity. 

a  It  is  now  (April,  1883)  iu  successful  operation. 
72  It  M  1137 


100 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

TABLE  SHOWING  IMPORTS  OF  GLASS  INTO  THE 


187(1. 

18J7. 

Articles. 

Quantities. 

Value. 

Value 
per 
unit  of 
quantity. 

Quantities. 

Value. 

Value 
per 
unit  of 
quantity. 

$4  803  091  25 



1 

Bottles: 

25,  306  44 

2°  125  84 

Containing  liquors      .    number.. 

3,  740,  473.  74 

3  313  957  73 

3 

Or  jars  filled  with  articles  not  otherwise  provided  for  

6  970  00 

1  748  00 

Q 

Glassware  : 
Porcelain,  Bohemian  cut,  engraved,  painted,  colored,  printed,  stained, 

567  269  17 

496  705  62 

7 

silvered  or  gilded,  not  including  plate-glass  silvered,  or  looking- 
glasa  plates. 

60  833  97 

54  319  15 

Plate-glass,  cast,  polished,  not  silvered  : 

15  500  00 

2  8°2  00 

0  182 

17  365  00 

2  835  oo 

0  163 

8  117  75 

3  615  00 

101  949  00 

67  008  00 

0  657 

ii 

Above  24  by  30  inches,  and  not  above  24  by  60  do.... 

442,  705.  50 
1  024  318  33 

340,  998  00 
943  958  00 

0.770 
0  922 

458,704.00 
1  017  317  55 

326,  150  00 

0.711 

0  857 

Plate-glass,  cast,  polished,  silvered,  or  looking-glass  plate  : 

250  895  50 

52  791  00 

0  210 

812  671  33 

223  407  00 

0  275 

755  919  00 

838  5D7  00 

319  964  00 

0  382 

8°1  439  00 

268  °74  00 

0  327 

1(5 

168  753  19 

117  096  00 

0  694 

10°  556  00 

55  456  00 

0  541 

17 

Above  24  by  60  inches  -  do.   - 

65  778  75 

76  467  00 

1  162 

12  149  25 

17  064  00 

1  405 

i  ^ 

Plate-glass,  rough,  fluted,  or  rolled  (excess  of  1  pound  per  square  foot  in 
proportion)  : 

2  265  00 

120  00 

0  053 

4  077  00 

395  00 

0  097 

10 

2  668  00 

75  00 

0  028 

2  787  00 

96  00 

0  034 

20 

23  838  00 

1  800  00 

0  076 

20  832.00 

1  616  00 

0  078 

•'1 

870  783  50 

33  741  00 

0  039 

258  708  00 

13  261  00 

0  051 

•>0 

Window-glass,  cylinder,  crown,  or  common,  unpolished: 

6  330  449  00 

215  619  88 

0.034 

4  677  1°4  00 

154  815  00 

0  033 

in 

*M 

Above  10  by  15  inches,  and  not  above  16  by  24  do... 
Above  16  by  24  inches  and  not  above  24  by  30                   do 

7,  542,  537.  50 
8  085  927  00 

304,  205  46 
376  706  34 

0.040 
0  047 

5,  662,  851.  00 
7  220  534  80 

202,  878  00 
288  382  47 

0.036 
0.040 

•'•, 

Above  24  by  30  inches       do 

6  879  206.  00 

425  486  00 

0.062 

7  378  928  00 

381  517  00 

0.052 

"'1 

"Window  -glass,  cylinder,  aud  crown,  polished  : 

539  00 

117  00 

0  217 

5  438  00 

•    1  144  00 

0.210 

•-'7 
?8 

Above  10  by  15  inches,  and  not  above  16  by  24  do  
Above  16  by  24  inches  and  not  above  24  by  30  .                              do 

1,244.00 
72,  084.  75 

477  00 
8  391  00 

0.383 
0.116 

6,  208.  00 
15  662.00 

1,704  00 
5,288  00 

0.  274 
0.338 

•") 

Above  24  by  30  inches  and  not  above  24  by  60    .    do 

2,  316.  00 

1,  221  00 

0.527 

2,  404.  00 

1,  078  00 

0.448 

W 

"1 

624  877  99 

497  528  14 

1138 


MANUFACTURE  OF  GLASS. 

UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  YEARS  1876  TO  1880. 


101 


1SJ8. 

| 

1879. 

1SSO. 

Value 

Value 

Value 

Quantities. 

Value. 

per 
unit  of 

Quantities. 

Value. 

per 
unit  of 

Quantities. 

Value. 

per 
unit  of 

quantity. 

quantity. 

quantity. 

$3  331  857  25 

$3  281  420  09 

$5  133,272  42 

.     .        .. 



2S  710  40 

I 

20,676  00 

43,760  56 

1 

3  200  087  00 

3  360  793  00 

4,  276  410  (0 

V 

56,412  00 



1  

199  459  00 

<) 

7  271  00 

11  049  00 

7,391  00 

4 

428  00 

1  607  00 

2,668  00 

• 

«i 

458  44"  93 

591  541  38 

722,637  41 

a 

. 





29  965  00 

41  Q5g  go 

38,381  36 

7 

10,  252.  00 

1,858  00 

0.181 

14,  338.  OH 

2,  711  00 

0.189 

108,732.00 

16,200  00 

0.149 

8 

12,  601.  16 

4.  413  00 

0.350 

27,  317.  80 

8,  724  00 

0.319 

46,  185.  80 

14,  721  00 

9.319 

9 

58,  340.  50 

33,  106  00 

0.567 

90,  434.  91 

32,888  00 

0.364 

157,  804.  92 

50,326  00 

0.319 

10 

392,  594.  16 

286,  537  00 

0.729 

562,  071.  08 

240,480  00 

0.428 

719,  373.  06 

285,  419  00 

0.397 

11 

756,  779.  29 

658,  560  00 

0.870 

869,  635.  12 

421,401  00 

0.485 

874,  521.  64 

390,741  00 

0.447 

12 

121,  213.  00 

18,  607  75 

0.154 

128,  904.  75 

23,992  00 

0.186 

230,  TiW.  42 

50,823  00 

0.220 

13 

619,  379.  50 

133,430  00 

0.215 

697,652.50 

165,  437  00 

0.237 

1,  000,  340.  42 

269,  421  00 

0.269 

14 

912,375.50 

277,  113  00 

0.304 

1,  081,  357.  00 

342,  750  00 

0.317 

1,  648,  187.  31 

557,998  00 

0.339 

15 

85,  545.  00 

41,  865  00 

0.489 

102,  961.  00 

45,460  00 

0.442 

153,  637.  00 

75,  218  00 

0.490 

16 

1,284.50 

1,  251  00 

0.974 

1,  034.  66 

1,  245  81 

L204 

6,020.66 

4,274  73 

0.710 

17 

80.00 

5  00 

0.063 

18 

2,441.00 

163  00 

0.067 

405.00 

29  00 

0.072 

10,  785.  00 

196  00 

0.018 

19 

3,585.00 

153  00 

0.043 

7,  202.  00 

365  00 

0.051 

X  957.  00 

89  00 

0.045 

20 

78,  588.  00 

5,432  00 

0.069 

173,  384.  00 

7.693  00 

0.044 

757.  90S.  00 

25,  426  00 

0.034 

21 

4,  330,  949.  00 

124,033  91 

0.029 

3,  582,  364.  00 

90,356  62 

0.025 

12,  041,  215.  00 

308,978  11 

0.026 

22 

5,  903,  795.  00 

176,  184  84 

0.030 

5,  045,  243.  00 

140,  367  05 

0.028 

11,  077,  758.  00 

333,063  23 

0.030 

23 

6,  576,  448.  00 

226,  396  85 

0.034 

5,  836,  463.  00 

184,  885  64 

0.032 

10,  693,  808.  25 

351,  463  90 

0.033 

24 

6,  242,  560.  50 

274,  624  61 

0.044 

6,  225,  791.  83 

237,  232  87 

0.038 

10,  137,  070.  00 

412,  472  44 

0.041 

25 

3,563.00 

828  00 

0.232 

1,  675.  00 

325  00 

0.194 

11,  900.  66 

2,110  00 

0.177 

2A 

8,724.00 

2,601  00 

0.298 

15,460.50 

3,256  00 

0.211 

28,  575.  58 

4,153  00 

0.156 

27 

10,  779.  00 

4,  185  00 

0.388 

21,  031.  00 

6,023  00 

0.286 

36,  938.  75 

10,  605  00 

0.287 

28 

1,  661.  00 

690  00 

0.415 

4,039.00 

1,690  00 

0.418 

12,  651.  66 

4,229  00 

0.334 

29 

30 

538  896  96 

680,  8C3  82 

851,047  68 

11 

1139 


INDEX  TO  OLA.SS 


Advantages  of  Siemens'  gas  furnaces - 

Aggry  beads  made  in  Phoenicia 

Agricola's  time,  furnaces  in .- 

Air  blast,  cooling  heated  molds  by 

Air  bubbles  in  glass 

Air,  effect  of,  on  pots 

Albany,  account  of  glass-making  at ' 

Alexandria,  Virginia,  manufacture  of  glass  at 

Alicaiit,  Spanish  soda  of 

Alkalies  and  other  materials  used  in  glass-making 

Alkalies,  the  chief,  used  in  glass-making 

Alkaline  rocks  in  Germany,  Friederich  Siemens  quoted  on 


use  of. 


Alkaline  rocks  in  Germany,  Julins  Fahdt  quoted  on  use  of . . 

Alkaline  rocks,  use  of,  for  bottle-glass 

Allegheny  county,  manufacture  of  glass  in,  in  the  census  year 

Alumina  in  glass 

Amelung,  John  Frederick,  petition  of,  for  aid  in  glass-making 
Amelung,  presentation  of  flint  goblets  by,  to  "Washington  ... 

American  fire-clay  used 

American  glass,  quality  of  (note) 

American  invention,  pressed  glass  an 

American  pot-clay,  analyses  of - 

American  sand,  Bontemps  quoted  on 

American  sand,  character  of 

American  sand,  deposits  of ' - 

American  sand,  mode  of  occurrence  of. .......  —  ...... 

American  sand,  Mr.  Henry  Chance  quoted  on 

American  sand,  Thomas  Webb  &  Son  quoted  on 

American  stained  glass  (note) 

Ammonia  process  for  making  soda 

Amount  of  production  of  Roman  glass 

Analyses  of  bottle-glass 

Analyses  of  English  sand 

Analyses  of  flint-glass 

Analyses  of  foreign  glass  sands 

Analyses  of  French  pot-clay 

Analyses  of  French  sand 

Analyses  of  German  pot-clay 

Analyses  of  glass  sands  of  the  United  States 

Analyses  of  lead  gluss 

Analyses  of  lime  glass 

Analyses  of  plate-glass 

Analyses  of  sand  not  always  indicative  of  quality 

Analyses  of  Scotch  pot-clay 

Analyses  of  Stourbridge  pot-clay 

Analyses  of  window-glass 

Analysis  of  American  pot-clay 

Analysis  of  window-glass  found  at  Pompeii 

Ancient  Egyptian  glass  furnaces,  remains  of,  found  by  Napo- 
leon I 

Ancient  factories,  location  of,  at  months  of  rivers 

Ancient  factories,  sand  used  in 


Page. 
36 
60 
34 
49 
44 
43 

93,94 
78 
31 

30-34 
30 

28 
28 
28 
88 
34 
95 
95 
18 
69 
58 
40 
26 
28 
28 
25 
26 
26 
69 
31 
62 
23 

26,27 
23 
29 
40 
•27 
40 
30 
23 
23 
23 
25 
40 
40 
23 
40 
56 

CO 
25 
26 


P»g«. 
59-64 
30 
59 
30 
58 
56 
31 
56 
51 
46 
4 
4 
4 
45 

56 
19 

18 

25-34 
52 
20 
22 
61 
59 
75 
44 
44 
44 
44 

l  75 
75 
75 
70 

74 

Austria-Hungary,  proportion  of  batch  in  glass  houses  of  .....  44 

Austria-Hungary's  specialty  in  glass-making  ................ 

Austria-Hungary,  statistics  of  glass  manufacture  in  .........  75 

Austria-Hungary,  working  in  glass  houses  of  ...............  44 

Austrian  glass  houses,  sources  of  supply  of  sand  for  ----  .....  28 

Austrian  glass  pots,  size  of  .................................  41 

Austrian  sand,  sources  of  supply  of  ......................... 

Austria,  quartz  still  used  in  ................................  28 

Anstro-Hungarian  glass  houses,  use  of  Siemens'  tank  furnaces 

in  .......................................................  44 

Average  daily  earnings,  fallacy  of  usual  statements  regarding 

B. 

Baccarat  works,  establishment  of  ........................... 

Bake-well,  Mr.  Thomas,  and  the  manufacture  of  glass  at  Pitts- 
burgh ................................................... 

Balls,  method  of  manufacture  of,  by  pressing  ............... 

Baltimore  glass  works,  establishment  of  .................... 

Barbarians,  influence  of,  upon  glass-making  ................ 

1141 


Ancient  glass  .............................................. 

Ancient  glass  a  soda  glass  ...........  .  ..........  .  ........... 

Ancient  glass,  coloring  matter  of  ........................... 

Ancient  glass  houses,  sources  of  supply  of  soda  for  .......... 

Ancient  pressed  glass  .......  .  .............................. 

Ancients,  extent  of  use  of  window-glass  by  the  ............. 

Ancient  soda  impure.  ..................  .  ...........  .  ....... 

Ancient  window-glass,  method  of  manufacture  of..  ......  — 

Annealing  flint-glass  ....................................... 

Annealing  ovens  for  plate-glass,  description  of  .............. 

Annealing  »vens  in  glassware  factories,  number  of  ......  —  . 

Annealing  ovens  in  green-glass  factories,  number  of  ......... 

Annealing  ovens  in  plate-glass  factories,  number  of  ......... 

Annealing  plate  -glass  ...................................... 

Annual  settlement  of  wages  ...................  -  ............ 

Antiquity  of  window-glass,  Winckelman's  views  on  .....  .... 

Approximate  composition  of  glass  .......................... 

Arsenic  used,  amount  of  .................................... 

Arsenic,  use  of,  in  glass-making  ............................ 

Artglass  .................................................. 

Artificial  glass,  definition  of  (note)  ......................... 

Art,  uses  of  glass  ........................................... 

Assyrian  glass,  character  of  .................  .  .............. 

Aurelian,  ordinance  of,  regarding  tribute  on  glass  ----  •-  ..... 

Austria,  glass-spinning  in  .............................  ----- 

Austria-Hungary,  cooling  in  glass  houses  of  ................ 

Austria-Hungary,  dimension  of  pots  in  glass  houses  of  ...... 

Austria-Hungary,  duration  of  heating  in  glass  houses  of  ..... 

Austria-Hungary,  duration  of  melting  in  glass  houses  of  ---- 

Austria-Hungary,  manufacture  of  glass  flowers  in  ........... 

Austria-Hungary,  manufacture  of  glass  wearing  fabrics  in.  .. 
Austria-Hungary,  manufacture  of  plate-glass  in.  .  ........... 

Austria-Hungary,  number  of  plate-glass  factories  in  ......... 

Austria-Hungary,  present  condition  of  manufacture  of  glass 


66 

86 
48 
95 
65 


104 


INDEX  TO  GLASS. 


Barec  of  Bretagne 

Barilla,  Spanish 

Barrels  and  casks  used 

Basalt,  decomposed,  use  of,  for  manufacturing  (note) 

Bastie  glass,  method  of  manufacture  of 

Batch,  constituents  of  the 

Batch,  definition  of 

Batch,  preliminary  heating  of 

Batch,  proportion  of,  in  glass  houses  of  Austria-Hungary 

Battery  jars,  method  of  manufacture  of,  hy  pressing 

Beads,  manufacture  of,  in  Virginia 

Beer-bottles,  number  made 

Beets  and  grapes,  potash  made  from 

Belgian  bottle-glass,  constituents  of 

Belgian  glass,  exportation  of 

Belgian  glass,  quality  of 

Belgian  glass,  statistics  of  manufacture  of 

Belgian  sand,  sources  of  supply  of 

Belgian  window-glass 

Belgian  window-glass,  export  of 

Belgian  window-glass,  importation  of,  into  the  United  States. 

Belgium,  production  of  plate-glass  in 

Belgium's  specialty  in  glass-making 

Bellaire,  Ohio,  glass-making  at _ 

Beni-Hassan,  figures  on  tombs  at 

Beni-Hassan,  glass-making  figured  on  tombs  at 

Benrath's  definition  of  glass  (note) 

Benzine,  use  of 

Blast-furnace  slag,  a  glass  (n      ) 

Blast-farnaee  slag,  relative  composition  of,  and  glass 

Blast-furnaces,  slag-glass  from 

Blast,  use  of,  in  cooling 

Blister  in  glass,  cause  of 

Blowing  and  pressing  united  to  produce  same  form  of  glass.. 

Blowing  flint  ware,  description  of  process 

Blowing  glass 

Blowing  in  molds,  description  of  method 

Blown  plate,  definition  of 

Blown  plate,  how  made 

Blown  window-glass,  early  manufacture  of 

Blown  window-glass,  Theophilus'  account  of 

Bodiue,  John  T.,  on  early  glass-making  in  New  Jersey 

Bohemian  glass 

Bohemian  glass,  character  of 

Bohemian  glass,  definition  of 

Bohemian  glass  houses,  time  of  melting  in 

Bohemian  glass  pots,  size  of 

Bohemian  glass,  quality  of 

Bohemian  lime  flint-glass,  constituents  of ., 

Boilers  in  glassware  factories,  number  of 

Boilers  in  green-glass  factories,  number  of 

Boilers  in  plate-glass  factories,  number  of 

Boilers  in  window-glass  factories,  number  of 

Bontemps  quoted  on  American  sand 

Boston,  manufacture  of  crown-glass  at 

Bottle-glass  (note) 

Bottle-glass,  analyses  of 

Bottle-glass,  Belgian,  constituents  of 

Bottle-glass,  English,  constituents  of 

Bottle-glass,  flint  and,  manufactured  in  Europe 

Bottle-glass,  French,  constituents  of 

Bottle-glass,  the  term  hollow-ware  applied  to 

Bottle-glass,  materials  used  for,  proportion  of 

Bottle-glass,  Pittsburgh,  constituents  of . 

Bottle-glass  pots,  size  of 

Bottle-gJass,  use  of  alkaline  rocks  for .. 

Bottles,  manufacture  of,  in  France 

Bottles,  manufacture  of,  in  window-glass  houses 

Bottles,  pressing 

Bridgeport,  Ohio,  glass-making  at 

British  exports  of  glass 

114-J 


Page. 
31 
31 

18 
20 
53 
41 
41 
43 
44 
48 
78 
11 
32 
43 
73 
73 
74 
27 
69 
69 
69 
70 
69 
79 
57 
59 
19 
.  4 
20 
54 
54 
44 
45 
45 
51 
50 
51 
20 
51 
57 
57 
96 
67 
68 
21 
44 
41 

70,74 
42 
4 
5 
4 
4 

26 
89 
20 
23 
43 
43 
72 
43 
21 
43 
43 
41 
28 
73 
84 
48 
79 
72 


Pag.. 

British  imports  of  glass 72 

British  islands,  modern  manufacture  of  glass  in 68 

Bubbles  in  glass 44 

Building  glass  works,  statistics  of 3,13,14 

Bulk,  difference  in,  of  melted  and  unmelted  charge 43 

Burgin  furnaces,  number  of 4 

Byzantine  glass 62 

Byzantine  glass,  character  of 62 

Byzantine  glass,  extent  of  its  manufacture 62 

C. 

Calcar  arch 43 

California,  history  of  glass-making  in 98 

California,  statistics  of  all  works  in,  by  counties 15 

Capital  invested  in  glass  manufacture 3 

Carbonate  glass,  color  of 31 

Carbon,  use  of,  in  glass 34 

Carthaginian  glass 01 

Carts  in  glass  factories,  number  of 4,5 

Casks  and  barrels  used 18 

Castellani  on  Venetian  glass  manufacture 76 

Casting  and  pressing,  related  processes 45 

Casting  plate-glass 45 

Casting  tables,  description  of 45 

Casting  tables  in  plate-glass  factories,  number  of 4 

Cast  plate,  composition  of 19 

Cathedral  plate,  establishments  producing 3 

Cause  of  the  decline  of  the  manufacture  of  glass  in  Rome.. ..  62 
Causes  of  failure  of  early  attempts  to  establish  glass  manu- 
facture    81 

Cave 35 

Censuses,  previous,  comparison  with -2 

Censuses,  previous,  omissions  in 2 

Chance,  Mr.  Henry,  quoted  on  American  sand 26 

Chance's  mixing  machine 43 

Character  of  ancient  window-glass 56 

Character  of  Egyptian  glass 60 

Character  of  French  sand 27 

Character  of  lead  glass  21,33 

Character  of  modern  Spanish  glass 07 

Character  of  Phoenician  glass 61 

Character  of  Roman  glass 62 

Character  of  sulphate  glass , 31 

Chargers,  mechanical 43 

Charging 43 

Cheapness  of  glass  at  Rome 62 

Chemical  glass 19 

Chemical  lime  flint-glass,  constituents  of 42 

Chemical  classification  of  glass,  difficulty  of 19 

Chemists'  ware  not  included  in  report 1 

Chief  alkalies  used  in  glass-making 30 

Chief  constituents  of  glass 19 

Chief  glass-making  countries  of  Europe 69 

Children  in  glass  factories i 5 

China,  glass-making  in 64 

Christianity,  influence  of,  on  the  manufacture  of  glass 63 

Churches,  use  of  window-glass  in  early 56 

Church,  influence  of  the,  on  glass-making 65 

Classification,  chemical,  of  glass,  difficulty  of 19 

Classification,  commercial,  of  glass,  difficulty  of 20 

Classification,  composition  and  properties  of  glass 19-23 

Classification  of  glass 1,20 

Classification  of  glass  according  to  method  of  manufacture 

(note) 20 

Classification  of  glass,  Toinlinson's  (note) 20 

Classification  of  glass,  Ure's  (note) 20 

Classification  of  Gobeleterie 21 

Clay-grinding  mills  in  glass  factories,  number  of 4 

Clear  white  lime  flint-glass,  constituents  of 42 

Clinton,  De  Witt,  on  glass-making  in  New  York 94 

Coal  first  used  as  a  fuel  in  United  States  at  Pittsburgh 83 


INDEX  TO  GLASS. 


105 


Coal,  mineral,  first  use  of 

Coal,  substitution  of,  for  wood  in  glass-melting 

Coal  used,  amount  of 

Coal,  use  of,  in  glass-making  in  1810 

Coke  used,  amount  of 

Colbert  and  glass-making  in  France --• 

Cold  stoking 

Colored  glass,  classification  of,  chemically 

Colored  glass,  definition  of '. 

Colored  glass  pots,  size  of 

Coloring  matter  of  ancient  glass 

Color  of  carbonate  glass 

Color  of  glass,  effect  of  use  of  manganese  on 

Color  of  sand  not  always  indicative  of  quality 

Color  of  slag-glass 

Color  of  sulphate  glass 

Commercial  classification  of  glass,  difficulty  of 

Common  flint,  definition  of 

Comparison  with  previous  censuses 

Composition,  approximate,  of  glass 

Composition,  classification,  and  properties  of  glass 

Composition  of  cast  plate 

Composition  of  enamel 

Composition  of  Egyptian  glass 

Composition  of  glass,  difficult  to  obtain 

Composition  of  green  bottle-glass 

Composition  of  green  glass 

Composition  of  lead  flint 

Composition  of  lead  glass 

Composition  of  lime  flint .' 

Composition  of  window-glass 

Composition,  variability  of 

Condition  of  glass-making  in  1608 

Conductivity  of  glass . 

Connecticut,  first  glass  house  in 

Connecticut,  history  of  glass-making  in 

Connecticut,  monopoly  of  glass-making  in,  granted 

Connecticut,  statistics  of  all  works,  by  counties 

Connecticut,  statistics  of  glass-making  in,  at  various  dates. . 

Consolidated  statistics  of  production,  etc.,  of  glassware 

Consolidated  statistics  of  production,  etc.,  of  green  glass 

Consolidated  statistics  of  production,  etc.,  of  plate-glass 

Consolidated  statistics  of  production,  etc.,  of  window-glass. 

Consolidated  statistics  of  the  materials  used  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  glass 

Constituents  of  Belgian  bottle-glass. 

Constituents  of  Bohemian  lime  flint-glass 

Constituents  of  chemical  lime  flint-glass 

Constituents  of  clear  white  liine  flint-glass 

Constituents  of  English  bottle-glass 

Constituents  of  English  lead  flint-glass 

Constituents  of  English  plate-glass 

Constituents  of  English  window-glass 

Constituents  of  French  bottle-glass 

Constituents  of  French  lead  flint-glass 

Constituents  of  French  lime  flint-glass 

Constituents  of  French  plate-glass 

Constituents  of  French  window-glass 

Constituents  of  lead  flint-glass 

Constituents  of  lime  flint-glass 

Constituents  of  lime- white  flint-glass 

Constituents  of  Pittsburgh  bottle-glass 

Constituents  of  Pittsburgh  lead  flint-glass 

Constituents  of  Pittsburgh  lime  flint-glass 

Constituents  of  Pittsburgh  window-glass 

Constituents  of  plate-glass 

Constituents  of  the  batch 

Constituents  of  window-glass 

Constitutionality  of  loa.us  of  money  to  encourage  manufac- 
tures discussed  in  Congress 

Construction  of  furnaces  for  different  kinds  of  glass 


Page. 
36 
57 
18 
87 
18 
66 
44 
20 
20 
41 
59 
31 
25 
25 
55 
31 
20 
21 
2 
19 

19,23 
19 
21 
60 
41 
19 
21 
19 
21 
19 
19 
19 
78 
21 
94 

94,95 
95 
15 
95 
12 
12 
12' 
12 

18 
43 
42 
42 
42 
43 
42 
42 
42 
43 
42 
42 
42 
42 
42 
42 
42 
43 
42 
42 
42 
42 
41 
42 

95 
35 


Cooling  in  glass  houses  of  Austria-Hungary  ................. 

Cooling  molds  by  air  blast  ................................. 

Cooling,  time  of  .  .......................................... 

Cooling,  use  of  Wast  in  .................................... 

Cooper's  mixer  ............................................ 

Cost  of  making  glass,  items  of  .............................. 

Cost  of  Siemens'tempered  glass  ............................ 

Council  of  Ten,  action  of,  on  glass-making  ................. 

Counties  making  glass,  relative  production  of  .............. 

Covered  pots,  time  of  melting  in  ........................... 

Covered  pots,  use  of,  in  glass-making  ...................... 

Craig  &  O'Hara  asked  to  manufacture  glass  for  public  build- 
ings at  Washington  ...................................... 

Craig  &  O'Hara,  glass  manufacturers  in  Pittsburgh  ......... 

Craig  &  O'Hara's  glass  works  .............................. 

Cristaux  same  as  lead  flint  ........................  .  ........ 

Crown-glass,  definition  of  .................................. 

Crown-glass  making  in  New  York  in  1846  ................... 

Crown  glass,  manufacture  of,  at  Boston  .................... 

Crown-glass,  method  of  manufacture../  .................... 

Crown-glass,  time  of  melting,  in  English  houses  ............ 

Crown  optical  glass  ........................................ 

Crushing  strength  of  glass 
Crystal  glass,  definition  of 
Gullet,  proportion  of  ....................................... 

Curvette,  use  of,  in  plate-glass  works 
Cutting  flint-glass 
Cylinder  glass,  definition  of 


Page. 
44 
49 
44 
44 
43 
x 
54 
65 
11 
44 
57 

84 
83 

82-84 
21 
20 
94 
89 
20 
44 
21 

21,  22 
21 
43 
45 
51 
20 


Dampness,  effect  of,  on  soda  window-glass  ...............  ...  30 

Decadence  of  Venetian  glass-making  .......................  65 

Decanters,  early  manufacture  of,  in  Pittsburgh  ..............  86 

De  Cesnola's  discoveries  of  glass  ............................  61 

Decline  of  the  English  glass  industry  .......................  72 

Decolorizer,  manganese  not  a  permanent  ........  .  ...........  33 

Decolorizer,  use  of  manganese  as  a  ..........................  24 

Definition  of  glass,  Benrath's  (note)  ........................  19 

Definition  of  glass,  Fownes'  (note)  ..........................  19 

Definition  of  glass,  Lardner*s  (note)  .........................  19 

Definition  of  glass,  lire's  (note)  .............................  19 

Den  ny  &  Beelen's  glass  house  at  Pittsburgh  ................  83,  84 

Destruction  of  first  glass  house  in  Virginia  ..............  —  78 

Devitrification  in  its  relation  to  manipulation  of  glass  ......  22 

Difference  in  bulk  of  melted  and  nnmelted  charge  ..........  43 

Difficulties  attending  the  early  manufacture  of  glass  at  Pitts- 

burgh ...................................................  84-86 

Difficulties  attending  the  early  man  nfacture  of  glass  in  Mary- 

land ....................................................  95 

Difficulties  attending  the  manufacture  of  glass  in  Virginia.  .  .  78 
Difficulties  attending  the  manufacture  of  plate-glass  in  the 

United  States  ............................................  98 

Difficulty  of  comparison  with  previous  censuses  ............  2 

Dimension  of  pots  in  glass  houses  of  Austria-Hungary  ......  44 

Direct-firing  furnaces,  number  of.  ...................  .  ......  4 

Directory  of  glass  works  ..................  ............  ....  ix 

Discovery  of  glass  .........................................  59 

Discovery  of  soda-ash  .....................................  31 

District  of  Columbia,  statistics  of  works  in  ................  15 

Division  of  labor  at  early  glass  works  ...  ...................  34 

Double  glass,  definition  of  .................................  20 

Double  process,  glass-making  a  ............................  19 

Draft  animals  used  in  glass  works,  number  and  kind  of  .....  5 

Drays  in  glass  factories,  number  of  -----  ...................  4,5 

Drinking-glasses,  Saxon  ...................................  63 

Druids'  beads  ..............................................  64 

Drying  of  pots  ............................................  41 

Duties  on  imports  of  glass,  early  action  of  Congress  in  levy- 

iug  .....................................................  9f 

Ductility  of  glass  .........................................  22 

Dyottville  glass  works  .....................................  81  .  ~i 

1143 


106 


INDEX  TO  GLASS. 


E. 

Page. 

Earliest  date  assigned  to  the  manufacture  of  Egyptian  glass.  59 

Early  action  of  Congress  levying  duties  on  imports  of  glass . .  95 

Early  attempts  at  the  use  of  salt-cake 31 

Early  attempts  to  establish  glass  manufacture 81 

Early  attempts  to  make  plate-glass  ia  the  United  States  ....  98 

Early  French  glass  works 63 

Early  furnaces 34 

Early  glass  furnaces,  description  of 90 

Early  glass-making  in  the  British  islands 64 

Early  glass-making  near  Philadelphia 80 

Early  glass,  variety  of 34 

Early  glass  works,  division  of  labor  at 34 

Early  glass  works  in  Gaul 63 

Early  glass  works  in  Spain  63 

Early  manufacture  of  decanters  in  Pittsburgh 86 

Early  manufacture  of  glass  i  n  Pittsburgh 84 

Early  manufacture  of  mirrors  in  Germany 63 

Early  manufacture  of  window-glass  in  Germany 63 

Early  specimens  of  German  glass 67 

Early  times  in  France,  use  of  window-glass  in 56 

Early  use  of  flint  in  glass-making 26 

Early  use  of  quartz  in  glass-making 26 

Early  Venetian  glass-making 65 

Early  window-glass  works  in  England 56 

Earnings,  average  daily,  elements  necessary  to  ascertain 6 

Economy  of  Siemens'  tank  furnace 38 

Effect  of  air  on  pots 43 

Effect  of  lead  in  the  manufacture  of  glass 33 

Effect  of  lime  on  glass 32 

Effect  of  pressing  in  cheapening  glass 58 

Egypt,  glass-making  in,  after  the  Christian  era 59 

Egypt,  glass-making  materials  in 60 

Egyptian  furnaces,  early .34 

Egyptian  glass 59 

Egyptian  glass,  character  and  composition  of 60 

Egyptian  glass,  earliest  date  assigned  to  the  manufacture  of. .  59 
Egyptian  glass  furnaces,  ancient,  remains  of,  found  by  Napo- 
leon 1 60 

Egyptian  glass-making,  process  of 60 

Egyptian  glass,  varieties  of 60 

Egyptian  soda,  where  procured 30 

Egypt,  natron  lakes  of 30 

Egypt,  state  of  the  art  in  ancient 59 

Eichbaum,  P.  W.,  glass-worker 81-83 

Employe's,  number  of 6 

Enamel,  composition  of • 21 

England,  early  window-glass  works  in '. 56 

England,  number  of  plate-glass  factories  in 70 

England's  specialties  in  glass-making 69 

English  art  glass 1 69 

English  bottle-glass,  constituents  of 43 

English  fire-clay  used,  amount  of 18 

English  flint-glass 69 

English  glass  houses,  sources  of  supply  of  sand  for 27 

English  glass  houses,  time  of  fining  in 44 

English  glass  houses,  time  of  melting  in 44 

English  glass  industry,  decline  of 72 

English  houses,  time  of  melting  flint-glass  in 44 

English  lead  flint-glass,  constituents  of 42 

English  plate-glass,  constituents  of 42 

English  sand,  analyses  of 26, 27 

English  sand,  sources  of  supply  of 26 

English  window-glass,  constituents  of 42 

Engraving  flint-glass 51 

Essex-street  glass  works 89 

Establishments  in  which  glass  was  made  in  the  census  year.  3 

Etching  flint-glass 51 

Etching,  invention  of 67 

Etruscan  glass 61 

Europe,  chief  glass-making  countries  of 69 

Europe,  number  of  plate-glass  factories  in 70 

1144 


Paga 

Europe,  present  condition  of  glass-making  in 69-77 

Europe,  production  of  plate-glass  in 71 

Excellence  of  Phoenician  glass 60 

Exportation  of  Belgian  glass 73,74 

Export,  first  United  States,  of  glass 77 

Export  of  Belgian  window-glass 69 

Exports  of  glass,  British 73 

F. 

Factories,  plant  of 4 

Fahdt,  Julius,  quoted  on  use  of  alkaline  rocks  in  Germany..  28 

Failure  of  early  attempts  to  establish   glass  manufacture,  . 

causes  of gl 

Falls  of  the  Schnylkill,  glass  works  at  the 81 

Faults  in  glass 44,45 

Fining ; 43,44 

Fining,  duration 'of,  in  glass  houses  of  Austria-Hungary 44 

Fining,  effect  of  too  long  continued 43 

Fining,  heat  of 43 

Fining,  time  of,  in  English  houses 44 

Fining,  time  of,  in  lime  glass  houses 44 

Fining,  time  of,  in  the  glass  houses  of  the  United  States 44 

Fire-clay,  American,  used,  amount  of 18 

Fire-clay,  English,  used,  amount  of 18 

Fire-clay,  German,  used,  amount  of 18 

Fire  polishing 49 

First  export  of  glass  from  the  United  States 77 

First  glass  house  in  New  York 93 

First  glass  house  in  Pittsburgh 83 

First  glass  house  in  the  United  States 77 

First  glass  made  in  the  United  States 77 

First  glass  works  in  Connecticut 94 

First  glass  works  in  Massachusetts 89 

First  glass  works  in  Missouri 97 

First  glass  works  in  New  Hampshire 91 

First  glass  works  in  New  Jersey 96 

First  glass  works  in  Pennsylvania 79 

First  glass  works  in  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania 80 

First  glass  works  west  of  the  Allegheny  mountains 82 

First  mention  of  glass  in  Rome 62 

First  pressed  glass 58 

First  pressed  tumbler 58 

First  Roman  glass  works 62 

Flashed  glass,  definition  of 20 

Flattening-ovens  in  window-glass  factories,  number  of 4 

Flattening  window-glass,  description  of  process  of 50 

Flint  still  used  in  Germany 27 

Flint-  and  bottle-glass  manufacture  in  Europe 72 

Flint,  common,  definition  of 21 

Flint,  early  use  of,  in  glass-making 26 

Flint,  German,  definition  of 21 

Flint-glass,  analyses  of 23 

Flint-glass,  annealing 51 

Flint-glass,  Bohemian  lime,  constituents  of 42 

Flint-glass,  chemical  lime,  constituents  of 42 

Flint-glass,  clear  white  lime,  constituents  of 42 

Flint-glass,  cutting 51 

Flint-glass,  definition  of 20 

Flint-glass,  English  lead,  constituents  of 42 

Flint-glass,  engraving 51 

Flint-glass,  etching , 51 

Flint-glass,  first  attempt  at  the  manufacture  of,  west  of  the 

Allegheny  mountains 85 

Flint-glass,  French  lead,  constituents  of 42 

Flint-glass,  French  lime,  constituents  of 42 

Flint-glass  houses,  time  of  melting  in 44 

Flint-glass,  lead,  constituents  of 42 

Flint-glass,  lead,  proportion  of  materials  used  in  the  manu- 
facture of 42 

Flint-glass,  lime,  proportion  of  materials  used  in  the  manu- 
facture of . .                                             42 


INDEX  TO  GLASS. 


107 


Page. 

Flint-glass,  lime,  constituents  of - 42 

Flint-glass,  lime-white,  constituents  of 42 

Flint-glass  making,  early  in  Massachusetts,  account  of 89,90 

Flint-glass,  manufacture  of,  in  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania..  82 
Flint-glass,  permanent  establishment  of  the  manufacture  of, 

at  Pittsburgh 86 

Flint-glass,  Pittsburgh  lead,  constituents  of 42 

Flint-glass,  Pittsburgh  lime,  constituents  of 42 

Flint-glass  pots,  size  of 41 

Flint-glass,  tools  used  in  the  manufacture  of 51 

Flint,  use  of,  in  manufacture  of  glass 24 

Flowers,  glass,  manufacture  of,  in  Austria-Hungary 75 

Foreign  glass  sands,  analyses  of 29 

Form  of  furnaces,  object  aimed  at  in  the 35 

Fowne's  definition  of  glass  (note) 19 

Franco,  Colbert  and  glass-making  in 66 

France,  glass  of 63 

France,  manufacture  of  bottles  in 73 

France,  manufacture  of  lead  flint-glass  in 66 

France,  manufacture  of  mirrors  in 73 

France,  manufacture  of  plate-glass  in —  73 

France,  modern  glass-making  in 66 

France,  number  of  plate-glass  factories  in • 70 

France,  plate-glass  making  in 66,73 


France,  quartz  still  used  in 

France's  specialties  in  glass  making 

France,  use  of  window-glass  in  early  times  in 

French  bottle-glass,  constituents  of 

French  glass  houses,  time  of  melting  in 

French  glassware,  taste  displayed  in  the  manufacture  of 

French  glass  works,  early 

French  lead  flint-glass,  constituents  of 

French  lime  flint-glass,  constituents  of 

French  plate-glass,  character  of 

French  plate-glass,  constituents  of 

French  pot-clay,  analyses  of 

French  sand,  analyses  of 

French  sand,  character  of 

French  sands,  mode  of  occurrence  of 


27 
69 
56 
43 
44 
73 
63 
42 
42 
69 
42 
40 
27 
27 
25 

French' stained  glass 69 

French  white  glass,  character  of 69 

French  window-glass,  constituents  of 42 

Frequency  of  payment 8 

Fritting 43 

Fritting  furnaces 34 

Fruit  jars,  number  made 11 

Fuel,  coal  first  used  as  a,  in  United  States  at  Pittsburgh 83 

Fuel,  economy  of,  in  Siemens'  gas  furnace 36 

Fuel  used  in  early  glass  houses 36 

Fuel  used  in  Germany 74 

Fuel  used  in  glass-making 4 

Furnaces 34-41 

Furnaces,  building, 1, 3, 13, 14 

Furnaces,  construction  of,  for  different  kinds  of  glass 35 

Furnaces,  description  of  early  glass 90 

Furnaces,  early 34 

Furnaces  idle  during  census  year 1, 2, 3, 13, 14 

Furnaces,  number  of 

Furnaces,  size  of 

Furnaces  used  in  Germany 

Fusion,  effect  of  too  long  continued 

Fusion,  heat  of 

Fusion,  time  of 


o. 

Gallatin's  glass  works 

Gal  latin's  return  ou  the  manufacture  of  glass  in  the  United 

States 

(.ias  bubbles  iu  glass 

Gas  furnaces 

Gas  furnaces  at  Wheeling 


3 
36 
74 
43 
43 
43 


82 

87 
44 

36 

79 


Gas  furnaces,  number  of 

Gas  furnaces,  time  of  melting  in 

Gaul,  early  glass  works  in v 

German  fire-clay  used,  amount  of 

German  flint,  definition  of 

Geman  glass,  early  specimens  of 

German  glass  houses,  location  of - 

German  glass  pots,  size  of 

German  glass- workers  in  the  United  States,  early 

German  pot-clay,  analyses  of  ...  ^ 

German  sand,  sources  of  supply  of 

German  silvered  plate,  importation  of,  into  the  United  States. 

Germany,  early  manufacture  of  mirrors  in 

Germany,  early  manufacture  of  window-glass  in 

Germany,  flint,  still  used  in 

Germany,  furnaces  used  in 

Germany,  influence  of,  on  French  glass-making 

Germany,  influence  of  Rome  on  glass  manufacture  in 

Germany,  manufacture  of  mirrors  in 

Germany,  number  of  plate-glass  factories  in 

Germany,  present  condition  of  manufacture  of  glass  in 

Germany,  production  of  mirrors  in 

Germany,  quartz  still  used  in 

Germany,  statistics  of  manufacture  of  glass  in 

Germany's  specialty  in  glass-making 

Gill  furnace,  description  of 

Gill  furnaces,  number  of 

Glass,  a  fused  mixture  of  two  or  more  silicates 

Glass  and  metallurgical  slags 

Glass-bead  manufacture  in  Venice 

Glass-blowing,  early,  description  of 

Glass-blowing  figured  on  tombs  at  Beni-Hassan 

Glass,  chemical 

Glass,  chief  constituents  of 

Glass,  classification  of 

Glass,  definition  of,  Benrath's  (note) 

Glass,  definition  of,  Fownes'  (note) : 

Glass,  definition  of,  Lardner's  (note) 

Glass,  definition  of,  Ure's  (note) 

Glass,  difficulty  of  chemical  definition  of 

Glass  found  at  Poitiers 

Glass-gall 

Glass-gall,  or  sandiver 

Glass,  how  used  commercially - 

Glass  in  France 

Glass,  in  the  dark  ages 

Glass,  its  composition,  classification,  and  properties 

Glass-makers,  special  privileges  given  to 

Glass-making  a  double  process 

Glass-making  at  Bellaire.Ohio 

Glass-making  at  Jamestown,  Virginia - 

Glass-making  at  Keene,  New  Hampshire 

Glass-making  at  Martin's  Ferry,  Ohio 

Glass-making  at  Newcastle-on-Tyne 

Glass-making  at  Pembroke,  New  Hampshire •- 

Glass-making  at  Wheeling,  West  Virginia,  history  of 

Glass-making  figured  on  tombs  at  Beni-Hassan 

Glass-making,  history  of  some  processes  of 

Glass-making  iu  Bridgeport,  Ohio 

Glass-making  in  California,  history  of .  — 

Glass-making  in  China 

Glass-making  in  Connecticut,  history  of 

Glass-making  iu  Egypt,  after  the  Christian  era 

Glass-making  in  Germany 

Glass-making  in  Illinois,  history  of 

Glass-making  in  India 

Glass-making  in  Ireland    

Glass-making  in  Kentucky,  history  of 

Glass-making  in  Maryland,  history  of , 

Glass-making  in  Maryland  in  1810 

Glass-making  in  Maryland  in  1820 

1145 


Page. 
4 
44 
63 
18 
21 
67 
74 
41 
91 
40 
27 
70 
63 
63 
27 
74 
66 
63 
74 
70 
74 
70 
27 
74 
70 
37 
4 
19 
59 
70 
57 
57 
19 
19 
1,20 
19 
19 
19 
19 
19 
63 
30 
43 
19 
63 
66 

19-23 
63 
19 
79 
77 
92 
79 
64 
92 
78 
59 

56,58 
79 
98 
64 

94,95 
59 
63 
98 
64 
64 
98 

.  95,96 
96 
96 


108 


INDEX  TO  GLASS. 


Page. 

Glass-making  in  Mai  yland  in  1831 96 

Glass-making  in  Massachusetts,  history  of 88-91 

Glass-making  ia  Massachusetts  in  1818 90 

Glass-making  in  Massachusetts  in  1823 90 

Glass-making  in  Missouri,  history  of 97 

Glass-making  in  New  Hampshire,  history  of 91-93 

Glass-making  in  New  Hampshire  in  1820 92 

Glass-making  in  New  Jersey,  history  of 96 

Glass-making  in  New  York,  history  of 93, 94 

Glass-making  in  New  York  in  1820 94 

Glass-making  in  New  York  in  1831 94 

Glass-making  in  Normandy 63 

Glass-making  in  Ohio,  history  of , 97 

Glass-making  in  Ohio  in  1820 97 

Glass-makiug  in  Ohio  in  1831 97 

Glass-making  in  Ohio  in  1840 97 

Glass-making  in  Ohio  in  1850 97 

Glass-making  in  Ohio  in  1860 97 

Glass- making  in  Ohio  in  1870 97 

Glass-making  in  Pennsylvania,  history  of 79-88 

Glass-making  in  Persia 64 

Glass-making  in  Rome  after  the  Christian  era  62 

Glass-making  in  Scotland 64 

Glass-making  in  Spain 63 

Glass-making  in  Virginia,  history  of 77-79 

Glass-making  in  Virginia  in  1831 78 

Glass-making  in  Vermont,  history  of 97 

Glass-making  in  Western  Massachusetts,  history  of 90 


Glass-making  in  West  Virginia  in  1840 

Glass-making  materials  in  Egypt 

Glass-making,  profit  in,  no  attempt  to  show 

Glass  manufacture  in  France,  present  state  of 

Glass  manufacture  in  Germany 

Glass-melting,  substitution  of  coal  for  wood  in 

Glass-pressing,  application  of  compressed  air  to 

Glass-pressing,  application  of  steam  to. 

Glass-pressing,  London  Pottery  Gazette  on  the  invention  of .. . 

Glass-pressing,  Pellatt  an  the  invention  of 

Glass- refining  in  Austria 

Glass  sand  in  New  Jersey 

Glass-spinning  in  Austria 

Glassware,  capital  invested  in 

Glassware,  consolidated  statistics  of  production,  etc 

Glassware  factories,  definition  of 

Glassware,  French,  taste  displayed  in  the  manufacture  of  . . . 

Glassware,  number  of  pieces  made  not  reported  on 

Glassware,  product  of,  value  of 

Glassware,  relative  productive  rank  of  the  states  in 

Glassware  works,  furnaces  in,  number  of 

Glassware  works,  pots  in,  number  of. 


78 
60 
ix. 
73 
67 
57 
49 
49 
58 
58 
44 
97 
75 
3 

12 
1 

73 
10 
9 
9 
3 
3 

Glass  working,  methods  of 45-55 

92 
82 
82 
82 
82 
82 
4 
4 

21 
32 
72 
72 
56 
61 
61 
11 
19 
3 
21 
12 


Glass  works  in  New  Hampshire  in  1820 

Glass  works  in  Pennsylvania  in  1810 

Glass  works  in  Pennsylvania  in  1820 

Glass  works  in  Pennsylvania  in  1831 

Glass  works  in  Pennsylvania  in  1840 

Glass  works  in  western  Pennsylvania,  early  history  of 

Glory-holes  in  glassware  factories,  number  of 

Glory-holes  in  green-glass  factories,  number  of 

Gobeletei-ie,  classification  of 

Grapes,  beets  and,  potash  made  from 

Great  Britain,  localities  of  the  manufacture  of  glass  in 

Great  Britain,  statistics  of  the  manufacture  of  glass  in 

Great  Britain,  window-glass  used  in,  in  the  Roman  period  .. 

Greek  glass 

Greek  glass,  earliest  reference  to 

Green  and  black  bottles,  number  of 

Green  bottle-glass,  composition  of 

Green  glass,  capital  invested  in 

Green  glass,  composition  of 

Green  glass,  consolidated  statistics  of  production,  etc 

1146 


Green  glass,  definition  of 

Green-glass  factories,  definition  of 

Green-glass  houses,  time  of  melting  in 

Green  glass,  production  of 

Green  glass,  relative  productive  rank  of  the  states  in 

Green-glass  works,  furnaces  in,  number  of 

Green-glass  works,  pots  in,  number  of 

Grinding-  and  engraving-machines  in  glass  factories,  number 

of 

Grinding  plate-glass,  description  of  machinery  for 

Grinding  plate-glass,  description  of  process 

Grinding  sand  used 

Ground  glass,  definition  of 

Guinaud's  method  of  making  optical  glass 


Page. 

21 

1 

44 

11 

9 

3 

3 

4,5 
46 
46 
18 
21 
46 


24 

18 
44 
4:.! 
35 
43 
28 


II. 

Hardened  glass 

Hardened  glass,  definition  of 

Hardness  of  glass,  on  what  it  depends 

Hay  and  straw  used,  amount  of 

Heating  in  glass  houses  of  Austria-Hungary,  duration  of 

Heating  of  batch,  preliminary - 

Heat  of  furnaces  (note) 

Heiss-schiiren,  heat  of 

Herzogenrath  (German)  sand 

Hewes,  Robert,  attempts  to  establish  glass-making  in  New 

Hampshire 91 

History  of  glass-making  in  California 98 

History  of  glass-making  in  Connecticut 94,95 

History  of  glass-making  in  Illinois 96 

History  of  glass-making  in  Kentucky 98 

History  of  glass-making  in  Maryland 95, 9(1 

History  of  glass-making  in  Massachusetts 88-91 

History  of  glass-making  in  Missouri 97 

History  of  glass-making  in  New  Hampshire 91-93 

History  of  glass-making  in  New  Jersey 96, 97 

History  of  glass-making  in  New  York 93,  94 

History  of  glass-making  in  Ohio  97 

History  of  glass-making  in  Pennsylvania —  79-88 

History  of  glass-making  in  Russia .'.  68,69 

History  of  glass-making  in  the  United  States 77-99 

History  of  glass-making  in  Virginia 77, 78 

History  of  glass-making  in  West  Virginia 78, 79 

History  of  manufacture  of  plate- glass  in  France I . .  56 

History  of  some  processes  of  glass-making 56-58 

History  of  the  invention  of  pressed  glass 58 

Hohenbocka  (German )  sand 28 

Hohlglas,  definition  of 21 

Holland,  glass-making  in 70 

Holland,  present  condition  of  glass-making  in 77 

Holland,  statistics  of  glass-making  in 77 

Hollow-ware,  the  term,  applied  to  bottle-glass 21 

Horse-power  in  glass  factories,  number  of 4,5 

Horses  in  glass  factories,  number  of 4,5 

Hot  stoking,  heat  of 43 

I. 

Idle  and  building  glass  works,  statistics  of 2,3, 13, 14 

Idle  furnaces 

Illinois,  history  of  glass-making  in 98 

Illinois  sand 29 

Illinois,  statistics  of  all  works  in,  by  counties 15 

Importation  of  Belgian  window-glass  into  the  United  States.  63 

Importation  of  German  silvered  plate  into  the  United  States.  70 

Imports,  British,  of  glass 72 

Imports  of  glass,  early  action  of  Congress  in  levying  duties  on.  95 

Imports  of  glass  into  the  United  States 99-101 


Imports  of  soda 

Improvements  in  the  pressing  process 
Impurities  in  sand  and  their  removal  . 
India,  glass-making  in  . 


31 
47 
24 
64 


Indiana,  manufacture  of  plate-glass  in 99 


INDEX  TO  GLASS. 


109 


Indiana,  statistics  of  all  works  in,  by  counties 

Influence  of  barbarians  upon  glass-making 

Inlluence  of  Christianity  on  the  manufacture  of  glass 

Influence  of  Germany  on  French  glass-making 

Influence  of  Rome  on  glass  manufacture  in  Germany 

Influence  of  the  church  on  glass-making 

Influence  of  the  Renaissance  on  glass-making  

Influence  of  the  Roman  conquest  in  extending  glass  manu 

facture 1 

Influence  of  Venice  on  modern  glass-making 

Influence  of  Venice  on  the  manufacture  of  English  glass 

Influence  of  weather  on  composii  ion  of  glass 

Influence  of  weather  on  melting  glass 

Influences  that  determine  the  glass  mixture  

Insolubility  of  glass --• 

Insulators,  method  of  manufacture  of,  by  pressing 

Intervals  of  payment - • 

Introduction  of  glass-making  into  Rome 

Iowa,  statistics  of  all  works  in,  by  counties 

Ireland,  glass-making  in • 

Iridescent  glass,  definition  of - 

Iron  in  glass • 

Iron  in  sand,  effect  of,  on  glass 

Italian  glass  manufacture,  statistics  of 

Italy,  present  condition  of  manufacture  of  glass  in 


.1. 


Jamestown,  Virginia,  glass-making  at . 
Jarves,  Mr.,  on  Venetian  glass-making. 

Johnson's  Rambler  quoted 

Jo'nt  molds  


P»ge. 
16 
66 
63 
66 
63 
65 
65 

63 
64 
68 
41 
41 
41 
22 
48 
8 
62 
16 
64 
21 
33 
24 
76 
76 


77 
65 
22 

47 


K. 


Kalt-schiiren  ..............................................  44 

Keeue,  New  Hampshire,  glass-making  at  ....................  92 

Kensington,  Pennsylvania,  glass  works  at  ..................  80 

Kentucky,  history  of  glass-making  in  ......................  98 

Kentucky,  statistics  of  all  works  in,  by  comities  ............  16 


Lablanc's  discovery  of  soda-ash  ............................  31 

Labor,  division  of,  at  early  furnaces  ........................  34 

Lamp  chimneys,  number  made  ............  .  ................  11 

Lamps,  number  made  ......................................  11 

Lamps,  pressing  ...........................................  48 

Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  Baron  SteigeV's  glass  works  at  .....  80 

Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  glass-making  at  ..................  80 

Lardner's  definition  of  glass  (note)  ..........................  19 

Largest  plates  of  glass  made  ...............................  46,  73 

Lead,  effect  of,  in  the  manufacture  of  glass  .................  33 

Lead,  effect  of  proportion  of,  on  time  of  melting  ............  44 

Lead  flint-glass,  composition  of  ............................  19 

Lead  flint-glass,  constituents  of  ..................  ..........  42 

Lead  flint-glass,  English,  constituents  of  ...................  42 

Lead  flint-glass,  French,  constituents  of  ....................  42 

Lead  flint-glass,  manufacture  of,  in  France  .................  66 

Lead  Hint-glass,  Pittsburgh,  constituents  of  ................  42 

Lead  flint-glass,  proportion  of  materials  used  in  the  manu- 

facture of  ...............................................  42 

Lead  glass,  analyses  of  .....................................  23 

Lead  glass,  characteristics  of  ...............................  21 

Lead  glass,  character  of  ....................................  33 

Lead  glass,  composition  of  .................................  21 

Lead  glass,  early  manufacture  of  ...........................  57 

Lead  glass,  how  distinguished  from  lime  glass  ..............  21 

Lead  glass,  invention  of  ....................................  57 

Lead  glass,  where  made  ....................................  33 

Lead,  use  of,  as  a  glass-making  material  a  modern  discovery.  33 

Leer,  description  of  ........................................  51 

Legislature,  action  of  early  Massachusetts,  encouraging  glass- 

making  .................................................  89 

Letter  of  transmittal  .  .  is 


Pag* 

Lever-press  for  making  pressed  glass,  description  of 47 

Life  of  pots 41 

Lime  an  important  glass-making  material 32 

Lime,  effect  of,  on  glass 32 

Lime  flint-glass,  Bohemian,  constituents  of 42 

Lime  flint-glass,  clear  white,  constituents  of 42 

Lime  flint-glass,  chemical,  constituents  of , 42 

Lime  flint-glass,  composition  of - 19 

Lime  flint-glass,  constituents  of 42 

Lime  flint-glass,  French,  constituents  of 42 

Lime  flint-glass,  Pittsburgh,  constituents  of 42 

Lime  flint-glass,  proportion  of  materials  used  in  the  manu- 
facture of 42 

Lime  glass,  analyses  of 23 

Lime  glass  as  a  rule  a  cheap  glass 32 

Lime  glass,  definition  of 21 

Lime-glass  houses,  time  of  fining  in 44 

Lime-glass  houses,  time  of  melting  in  44 

Lime  present  in  nearly  all  glasses 32 

Lime,  sources  of  supply  of ..  33 

Limestone  used,  amount  of 18 

Lime  used,  amount  of - 18 

Lime,  use  of,  a  modern  discovery 32 

Lime- white  flint-glass,  constituents  of 42 

Litharge  or  red  lead  used,  amount  of 18 

Litharge,  use  of •- 33 

Loans  of  money  to  encourage  manufactures,  constitutionality 

of,  discussed  in  Congress 9£ 

Localities  in  which  glass  was  produced 11 

Localities  of  the  manufacture  of  glass  in  Great  Britain 72 

Location  of  ancient  factories  at  mouths  of  rivers 25 

Location  of  German  glass  houses 74 

Location  of  plate-glass  factories  in  Europe 70 

Location  of  window-glass  factories  in  Europe 71 

London  Pottery  Gazette  on  the  invention  of  glass  pressing 58 

Looking-glass  manufacture  in  Austria,  thin  sheet  glass  for  ..  44 

Loss  in  melting 44 

Loss  of  plate-glass  in  grinding,  smoothing,  and  polishing 46 

Lottery  for  raising  funds  to  establish  glass-making  in  New 

Hampshire 92 

Low  countries,  modern  manufacture  of  glass  in 68 

Lowell,  Massachusetts,  early  glass  works  in 90 

Lumber  used,  amount  of 18 

M. 

Machinery  for  grinding  plate-glass,  description  of 46 

Machines  used  in  glass  works,  kind  and  number  of 5 

Making  soda,  Sol vay  process  for 31 

Making  soda,  the  ammonia  process  for 31 

Manganese,  effect  of  use  of,  on  color  of  glass  25 

Manganese  used,  amount  of 18 

Manganese,  use  of 33 

Manganese,  use  of,  as  a  decolorizer 24 

Manipulation  of  glass,  devitrification  in  its  relation  to 22 

Manufacture  of  beads  in  Virginia 78 

Manufacture  of  bottles  in  .window-glass  houses 84 

Manufacture  of  bottles  west  of  the  Allegheny  mountains  ...  85 

Manufacture  of  glass  in  Allegheny  county  iu  the  census  year.  88 

Manufacture  of  glass  in  Germany,  statistics  of 74 

Manufacture  of  glass,  use  of  salt  in  the 32 

Manufacture  of  salt-cake  in  the  United  States 32 

Manufacture  of  soda-ash  in  the  United  States   •- 3:J 

•   "  Market-money,"  payment  of 8 

Martin's  Ferry,  Ohio,  glass-making  at TO 

Marver,  use  of 51 

Maryland,  history  of  glass-making  in  95,  9(> 

Maryland  sand 29 

Maryland,  statistics  of  all  works  in,  by  counties Itj 

Massachusetts,  account  of  early  flint-glass  making  iu  . .  90 

Massachusetts,  early  plate-glass  manufacture  in WtJ 

Massachusetts,  first  glass  works  iu  89 

in; 


110 


INDEX  TO  GLASS. 


Page. 
Massachusetts,  history  of  glass-making  in  ...................  88-91 

Massachusetts  legislature,  action  of  early,  encouraging  glaSS- 

QQ 

making  ................................................. 

Massachusetts,  state  bounty  in,  for  glass-making  ............        89 

Massachusetts,  statistics  of  all  works  in,  by  counties  ........         16 

Materials,  alkalies  and  other,  used  in  glass-making  ..........  30-34 

Materials,  mixing  of  .......................................   41-45 

Materials,  mixing  the,  influence  of,  on  the  character  of  the 


lass 


Materials,  proportion  of,  used  in  the  manufacture  of  glass  ----  42,  43 

Materials,  proportion  of,  variable  ..........................  41-45 

Materials  used  in  manufacture  of  glass,  consolidated  statis- 

tics of  ...................................................  18 

Materials  used  in  manufacture  of  glassware,  value  of  ....... 

Mechanical  chargers  ...........  .  ...........................  43 

Mechanical  mixers,  use  of  ..................................  43 

Melting  ....................  ...............................  43 

Melting,  duration  of,  in  glass  houses  of  Austria-Hungary  ----  44 

Melting,  effect  of  proportion  of  lead  on  time  of  .............  44 

Melting,  effect  of  proportion  of  sand  on  time  of  .............  44 

Melting,  effect  of  too  long  continued  .......................  43 

Melting  glass  ..............................................  41-45 

Melting,  loss  in  ............................................  44 

Melting-pots,  size  of,  for  manufacture  of  plate-glass  .  ........  45 

Melting,  time  of,  depends  on  furnace,  materials,  and  size  of 

pots  .....................................................  43 

Melting,  time  of,  in  Bohemian  glass  houses  .................  44 

Melting,  time  of,  in  covered  pots  ............................  44 

Melting,  time  of,  in  English  glass  houses  ....................  44 

Melting,  time  of,  in  French  glass  houses  ....................  44 

Melting,  time  of,  in  gas  furnaces  ........  .  ...................  44 

Melting,  time  of,  in  the  glass  houses  of  the  United  States  ----  44 

Metallurgical  slags,  glass  and  ..............................  59 

Metallurgy,  influence  of,  on  early  glass-making  .............  59 

Method  of  manufacture,  classification  of  glass  according  to 

(note)  ...................................................  20 

Method  of  manufacture  of  ancient  window-glass  ...........  56 

Method  of  washing  sand  to  remove  impurities  (note)  ........  24 

Methods  of  glass-working  ......................  -  ...........  45-55 

Methods  of  payment  .......................................  8 

Michigan,  statistics  of  all  works  in,  by  counties  ....  .........  16 

Milton  vase  ................................................  52 

Mineral  coal,  first  use  of  .....................  .  .............  36 

Mirrors,  early  m  auufacture  of,  in  Germany  .................  63 

Mirrors,  manufacture  of,  in  France  .........................  73 

Mirrors,  manufacture  of,  in  Germany  .......................  74 

Mirrors,  production  of,  in  Germany  ................  .  ........  70 

Mirrors,  tin  amalgam  for,  a  German  invention  ..............  63 

Mississippi,  statistics  of  all  works  in,  by  counties  ...........  16 

Missouri,  history  or  glass-making  in  ........................  97 

Missouri,  manufaci  ire  of  plate-glass  in  .....................  99 

Missouri  sand  ..............................................  29 

Missouri,  statistics  of  all  works  in,  by  counties  .............  16 

Mixer,  Cooper's  ............................................  43 

Mixers,  mechanical,  use  of  .................................  43 

Mixing-machine,  Chance's  ......................  ;  ...........  43 

Mixing  materials  ..........................................  41-45 

Mixing  sand  used,  amount  of  ...............................  18 

Mixing  the  materials,  influence  of,  on  the  character  of  the 

glass  ....................................................  43 

Mixture  of  two  or  more  silicates,  glass,  a  fused  ..............  19 

Mode  of  occurrence  of  French  sand  ........................  25 

Modern  furnaces,  description  of  ............................  35 

Modern  glass  ..............................................  64-69 

Modern  glass-making  dates  from  Venice  ................... 

Molded  glass,  Roman  ..................................... 

Molding  articles  with  lateral  designs  ..................  •  ____ 

Molding  curved  hollow  articles  .  ..................  .  ......... 

Mold  marks  on  pressed  ware  .............................. 

Molds,  blowing  in.  description  of  method  of  ............... 

Molds,  cooling,  l>y  air  blast  .....  .........................  . 

1148 


64 
57 
47 
48 
47 
51. 
49 


Molds,  early  use  of 

Molds  for  making  pressed  glass,  description  of 

Monkey-ovens  in  window-glass  factories,  number  of 

Monopoly  of  glass-making  in  Connecticut  granted 

Moore,  Governor,  on  glass-making  in  New  York 

Mouths  of  rivers,  location  of  ancient  factories  at 

Mules  in  glass  factories,  number  of 4,5 

Murano,  establishment  of  glass  manufacture  at 65 


Page. 
57 
47 
4 
94 
93 
25 


IV. 

Nails  used 18 

Natron  lakes  of  Egypt 30 

Natural  glass,  definition  of  (note) 20 

Ne wcastle-on-Tyne,  glass-making  at 64 

New  England  sand 29 

New  Hampshire,  description  of  early  method  of  glass-making 

in  90,91 

New  Hampshire,  history  of  glass-making  in .,..  91-93 

New  Hampshire,  statistics  of  all  works  in,  by  counties 16 

Now  Jersey,  glass  sand  in 97 

New  Jersey,  history  of  glass-making  in 96, 97 

New  Jersey,  John  T.  Bodine  on  early  glass-making  in 96 

New  Jersey  sand 29 

New  Jersey,  statistics  of  all  works  in,  by  counties 17 

New  Jersey,  statistics  of  glass-making  in,  at  various  dates  ..  96 

New  York,  crown-glass  making  in,  iu  1846 94 

New  York,  De  Witt  Clinton  on  glass-making  in 94 

New  York,  glass-making  in,  early  in  the  19th  century 94 

New  York,  Governor  Moore  on  glass-making  in 93 

New  York,  history  of  glass-making  in 93, 94 

New  York ,  statistics  of  all  works  in,  by  counties 17 

Nicholson  furnace,  description  of 37 

Nicholson  furnaces,  number  of 4 

Nitrate  of  soda  used,  amount  of 18 

Nitrate  of  soda,  use  of 32 

Normandy,  glass-making  in 63 

Norton,  Captain,  sent  to  Virginia  to  make  glass 78 

Norway,  glass-making  in 70 

Norway,  present  condition  of  manufacture  of  glass  in 77 

o. 

Object  aimed  at  in  the  form  of  furnaces 35 

Obsidian  (note) 20 

Ohio,history  of  glass-making  in 97 

Ohio,  stati  sties  of  all  works  in,  by  counties 17 

Omissions  in  previous  censuses 2 

Optical  glass 21 

Optical  glass,  character  of 4ti 

Optical  glass,  Guinaud's  method  of  making 46 

Ordinance  of  Aurelian  regarding  tribute  on  glass 59 

Ovens  used  in  glass  works,  kind  and  number  of 5 

P. 

Painted  glass  a  German  invention 

Painted  glass,  classification  of,  chemically 

Painted  glass,  definition  of 

Painted  glass,  statistics  of,  not  included  in  report 

Palmer,   Mr.  Charles,  on  the  production  of  plate-glass  in 

England,  France,  and  Belgium 

Patent  plate,  definition  of 

Patent  plate,  how  made 

Payment,  frequency  of 

Payment  in  kind 

Payment,  methods  of 

Payment,  peculiarities  of 

Pearl-ash  used,  amount  of 

Pelt's  hair  (note) 

Pellatt  on  the  invention  of  glass  pressing 

Pembroke,  New  Hampshire,  glass-making  at 

Pennsylvania,  glass  works  in,  in  1810 

Pennsylvania,  history  of  glass-making  in 

Pennsylvania,  statistics  of  all  works  in,  by  counties 


63 

20 

20 

1 

70, 71 
20 
51 


18 
20 
58 
92 
82 

79-88 
17 


INDEX  TO  GLASS. 


Ill 


Page. 
Permanent  establishment  of  the  manufacture  of  flint-glass  at 

Pittsburgh 86 

Persia,  glass-making  in 64 

Petition  of  John  Frederick  Amelung  for  aid  in  glass-making.  95 

Petroleum,  use  of 4 

Philadelphia,  early  glass-making  near 80 

Philadelphia,  manufacture  of  flint-glass  in 80 

Phoenicia,  Aggry  beads  made  in t>0 

Phoenician  glass 25,60 

Phoenician  glass,  character  of 61 

Phoenician  sand /--.  25 

Pittsburgh  bottle-glass,  constituents  of 43 

Pittsburgh,  history  of  glass  manufactures  in. 85-87 

Pittsburgh  glass  houses,  sources  of  supply  of  sand  for 29 

Pittsburgh  lead  flint-glass,  constituents  of 42 

Pittsburgh  lime  flint-glass,  constituents  of 42 

Pittsburgh,  statistics  of  the  manufacture  of  glass  in,  for  a 

series  of  years 87,88 

Pittsburgh  window-glass,  constituents  of 42 

Plant  of  factories 4 

Plate-glass,  analyses  of 23 

Plate-glass,  annealing 45 

Plate-glass,  annealing-ovens  for,  description  of 46 

Plate-glass,  casting 45 

Plate-glass,  capital  invested  in 3 

Plate-glass,  chemically,  classification  of 20 

Plate-glass,  consolidated  statistics  of  production,  etc 11 

Plate-glass,  coustiluents  of 42 

Plate-glass,  descript  ion  of  machinery  for  grinding 46 

Plate-glass,  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  manufacture  of,  in 

the  United  States 98 

Plate-glass,  early  attempts  to  make,  in  the  United  States  ...  98 

Plate-glass,  English,  constituents  of 42 

Plate-glass  factories,  definition  of 1 

Plate-glass  factories  in  Europe 70 

Plate-glass,  French,  character  of 69 

Plate-glass,  French,  constituents  of 42 

Plate-glass,  grinding,  description  of  process  of 46 

Plate-glass,  history  of  manufacture  of,  in  France 56 

Plate-glass  in  the  United  States,  history  of  the  manufacture  of  98 

Plate-glass,  kind  of,  produced  at  the  different  establishments  3 

Plate-glass,  largest  plates  made 46, 73 

Plate-glass,  loss  of,  in  grinding,  smoothing,  and  polishing 46 

Plate-glass  making  in  France  —  1 66 

Plate-glass  manufacture,  early,  in  Massachusetts 98 

Plate-glass  manufacture  in  Belgium,  establishment  of 57 

Plate-glass  manufacture  in  England,  establishment  of 57 

Plate-glass,  manufacture  of,  in  Austria-Hungary 75 

Plate-glass,  manufacture  of,  in  France 73 

Plate-glass,  manufacture  of,  in  Indiana 99 

Plate-glass,  manufacture  of,  in  Missouri 99 

Plate-glass,  Mr.   Charles  Palmer  on  the  production  of,  in 

England,  France,  and  Belgium , 70, 71 

Plate-glass,  polishing 46 

Plate-glass  pots,  size  of 41 

Plate-glass,  prices  of,  in  Europe 71 

Plate-glass,  process  of  manufacture  of 45 

Plate-glass,  statistics  of  production  of 10 

Plate-glass,  production  of,  in  Belgium 70 

Plate-glass,  production  of,  in  England 70 

Plate-glass,  production  of,  in  Europe 70,71 

Plate-glass,  production  of,  in  France 70 

Plate-glass,  production  of,  value  of 10 

Plate-glass,  product  of,  value  of 9 

Plate-glass,  proportion  of  materials  used  in  manufacture  of. .  42 

Plate-glass,  relative  productive  rank  of  the  states  in 9 

Plate-glass,  results  of  the  attempt  to  manufacture,  in  the 

United  States 99 

Plate-glass,  rolling 45 

Plate-glass,  size  of,  made  at  Saint-Gobain 73 

Plate-glass,  size  of  melting-pots  for  manufacture  of 41, 45 

Plate-glass,  smoothing 46 


Plate-glass,  Thevart's  invention  of 

Plate-glass,  thickness  of 

Plate-glass,  time  of  melting,  in  English  houses 

Plate-glass  works,  furnaces  in,  number  of 

Plate-glass  works,  pots  in,  number  of 

Pliny's  story  of  the  discovery  of  glass 

Poitiers,  glass  found  at 

Poitiers,  variety  of  glass  found  in  tombs  at 

Polished  plate,  definition  of 

Polished  plate,  establishments  producing 

Polished  plate-glass,  value  per  square  foot  of 

Polishing-machines  in  plate-glass  factories,  number  of 

Polishing  plate-glass 

Pompeii,  window-glass  discovered  at 

Pontil,  use  of 

Portland  vase,  the 

Portugal,  glass-making  in 

Portugal,  present  condition  of  glass-making  in 

Potash,  early  history  of  use  of 

Potash,  early  sources  of  supply  of 

Potash,  use  of,  recent '.... 

Pot-clay,  American,  analyses  of 

Pot-clay,  analyses  of. 

Pot-clay,  different  localities  in  which  produced 

Pot-clay,  preparation  of,  for  making  pots 

Pot-metal 

Pots 

Pots,  covered,  use  of,  in  glass-making 

Pots,  difficulty  of  setting 

Pots,  drying  of 

Potsherds,  use  of 

Pots,  how  made 

Pots,  life  of 

Pots,  number  of 

Pots,  shape  of 

Pots,  size  of 

Pots,  size  of,  effect  of,  on  time  of  melting 

Pots,  soundness  of,  how  tested 

Pots  used,  number  of 

Power  used  in  glass  works 

Preliminary  heating  of  batch 

Preliminary  report,  March  30,  1880 

Prepared  quartz,  sand  and,  relative  cost  of,  in  Vienna 

Presentation  of  flint  goblets  to  Washington  by  Mr.  Amelung. 

Present  condition  of  glass-making  in  Austria-Hungary 

Present  condition  of  glass-making  in  Europe 

Present  condition  of  glass-making  in  Germany '. 

Present  condition  of  glass-making  in  Holland 

Present  condition  of  glass-making  in  Italy 

Present  condition  of  glass-making  in  Norway 

Present  condition  of  glass-making  in  Portugal 

Present  condition  of  glass-making  in  Russia 

Present  condition  of  glass-making  in  Spain 

Present  condition  of  glass-making  in  Sweden 

Pressed  glass  an  American  invention 

Pressed  glass,  ancient,  how  made 

Pressed  glass,  description  of  process  of  manufacture 

Pressed  glass,  history  of  the  invention  of 

Pressed  glass,  lever-press  for  making,  description  of 

Pressed  glass,  molds  for  making,  description  of 

Pressed  glass,  the  first 

Pressed  tumbler,  the  first 

Presses  in  glassware  factories,  number  of 

Pressing,  blowing  and,  united  to  produce  same  form  of  glass. 

Pressing  bottles 

Pressing,  casting  and,  relative  processes 

Pressing  curved  hollow  articles 

Pressing,  effect  of,  in  cheapening  glass .' 

Pressing  goblets 

Pressing  lamps 

Pressing,  method  of  manufacture  of  balls  by 

Pressing,  method  of  manufacture  of  battery  jars  by 

1149 


Page. 
56 
46 
44 
3 
3 
59 
63 
63 
20 
3 
10 
4 
46 
56 
51 
52 
70 
77 
32 
32 
32 
40 
40 
39 
40 
8b 

34,41 
57 

40,41 
40 
40 
40 
41 
3 
41 

41-44 

44 

41 

18 

5 

43 
ix 
28 
95 

74,75 

69-77 
74 
77 
76 
77 
77 
76 
77 
76 
58 
58 
47 
58 
47 
47 
58 
58 
4 
45 
48 
45 
48 
58 
48 
48 
46 
4S 


112 


INDEX  TO  GLASS. 


Page. 

Pressing,  method  of  manufacture  ol  insulators  by 48 

Pressing  process,  improvements  in 47 

Pressing  taper  articles - 48 

Prices  of  plate-glass  in  Europe 71 

Prince  Rupert's  drops 21,53 

Privileges,  special,  given  to  glass-makers 63 

Prize  offered  for  glass-making 81 

Process  for  making  soda,  the  ammonia 31 

Process  for  making  soda,  the  Solvay 31 

Process  of  manufacture  of  plate-glass. . ; 45 

Productive  rank  of  the  states,  relative 9 

Product  of  glass,  value  of 9 

Profit  in  glass-making,  no  attempt  to  show ix 

Properties,  composition,  and  classification  of  glass 19-23 

Properties  of  glass 21, 22 

Proportion  of  batch  in  glass  houses  of  Austria-Hungary 44 

Proportion  of  materials  used  in  the  manufacture  of  glass  .  41-43 
Proportion  of  silica  in  glass 24 


Quality  of  American  glass  (note) 69 

Qaality  of  Belgian  glass 74 

Quality  of  Bohemian  glass 70, 74 

Quality  of  German  glass 74 

Qnartz,  early  use  of,  in  glass-making 26 

Quartz  still  used 27,28 

Qnartz,  use  of,  in  manufacture  of  glass 24 

K. 

Rambler,  Johnson's,  quoted . . 22 

Range  of  -wages 6,7 

Raw  glass,  production  of,  in  Austria 44 

Reaumur's  porcelain 22 

Red  lead  or  litharge  used,  amount  of 18 

Red  lead,  use  of 33 

Refining  glass  in  Austria 44 

Refining,  heat  of 43 

Refining,  time  of 43 

Remains  of  ancient  Egyptian  glass  furnaces  found  by  Napo- 
leon 1 60 

Renaissance,  influence  of  t,he,  on.  glass-making 65 

Report,  preliminary,  March  30,  1880 <  is 

Report,  this,  scope  of 1 

Revenue  scheme,  Townsend's,  effect  of,  on  glass-making 80 

Revival  of  Venetian  glass-making 65 

Reworked  glass  not  included  in  report 1 

Richmond,  Virginia,  manufacture  of  glass  at 78 

River  or  sea  sand 25 

Rochette  of  Syria 31 

Rolled  cathedral  plate,  definition  of 20 

Rolled  plate 46 

Rolled  plate,  definition  of 20 

Rolling  plate-glass 45 

Roman  conquest,  influence  of  the,  in  extending  glass  manu- 
facture    63 

Roman  glass,  amount  of  production  of 62 

Roman  glass,  specimens  of,  found  in  many  countries 62 

Roman  molded  glass 57 

Romans,  use  of  window-glass  by  the 56 

Rough  plate 46 

Rough  plate,  definition  of 20 

Rough  plate,  establishments  producing 3 

Russia,  history  of  glass-making  in 68,69 

Russian  glass  manufacture,  statistics  of 76 

Russia,  number  of  plate-glass  factories  in 70 

8. 

Saint-Gobain  Company 73 


Salt-cake,  early  attempts  at  the  use  of 

Salt-cake  first  used  in  the  United  States 

Salt-cake,  manufacture  of,  in  the  United  States. 

•Salt-cake  used,  amount  of 

Salt  used,  amount  of 

1150 


31 
31 
32 

18 
18 


Salt,  use  of,  in  the  manufacture  ef  glass 

Salviati  and  Venetian  glass-making 

Sand . . 


Sand,  American,  Bontemps  quoted  on 

Sand,  American,  character  of 

Sand,  American,  mode  of  occurrence  of 

Sand,  American,  Mr.  Henry  Chance  quoted  on 

Sand,  American,  Thomas  Webb  &  Son  quoted  on 

Sand,  analysis  of,  not  always  indicative  of  quality 

Sand  and  prepared  quartz,  relative  cost  of,  in  Vienna 

Sand,  Austrian,  sources  of  supply  of 

Sand,  Belgian,  sources  of  supply  of 

Sand,  color  of,  not  always  indicative  of  quality 

Sand,  deposits  of  American 

Sand,  effect  of  proportion  of,  on  time  of  melting 

Sand,  English,  analyses  of 

Sand,  English,  sources  of  supply  of 

Sand  for  English  glass  houses,  sources  of  supply  of 

Sand  for  Pittsburgh  glass  houses,  sources  of  supply  of 

Sand  for  Swedish  glass  houses,  sources  of  supply  of 

Sand  for  Wheeling  glass  houses,  sources  of  supply  of 

Sand,  French,  analyses  of 

Sand,  French,  character  of 

Sand,  French,  mode  of  occurrence  of 

Sand,  German,  sources  of  supply  of 

Sand,  grinding,  used,  amount  of 

Sand,  Herzogeurath  (German) 

Sand,  Hoheubocka  (German)  

Sand,  Illinois 

Sand,  impurities  in,  and  their  removal 

Sandiver,  or  glass-gall 

Sand,  Maryland 

Sand,  Missouri 

Sand,  mixing,  used,  amount  of 

Sand,  mode  of  occurrence  of 

Sand,  New  England 

Sand,  New  Jersey 

Sand  of  the  river  Bel  us 

Sand  of  United  States,  superiority  of  the 

Sand,  Phcenician 

Sand,  river  or  sea 

Sand,  glass,  analyses  of  foreign 

Sand,  glass,  analyses  of  United  States 

Sand,  sources  of  supply  of,  for  Austrian  glass  houses 

Sand,  Swedish,  sources  of  supply  of 

Sand,  tests  of 

Sand  used  in  ancient  factories 

Saxon  drinking  glasses 

Scope  of  report 

Scotch  pot-clay,  analyses  of 

Scotland,  glass-making  in 

Scott's  glass  house  at  Pittsburgh 

Sea  or  river  sand 

Sea- plants,  soda  from  ashes  of 

Second  attempt  at  glass-making  in  the  United  States 

Seed  in  glass,  cause  of 

Setting  of  pots 

Seybert's  Statistical  Annals  of  the  United  States  quoted  (note) . . 

Shape  of  pots 

Sheet  glass,  definition  of 

Sheet  glass,  thin,  for  looking-glass  manufacture  in  Austria. _ 

Si6ge  shops  worked  in  glassware  factories,  number  of 

Siemens,  Friederich,  quoted  on  use  of  alkaline  rocks  in  Ger- 
many   * 

Siemens'  furnaces,  number  of 

Siemens'  furnace,  use  of,  in  the  United  States 

Siemens'  gas  furnaces 

Siemens'  tank  furnace  

Siemens'  tank  furnace  for  window-glass,  illustration  of 

Siemens'  tank  furnaces,  use  of,  in  Austro-Hungarian  glass 
houses 

Siemens'  tempered  glass 


Page. 
3? 

65 

24-30 
26 
28 
25 
26 
26 
25 
28 
28 
27 
25 
28 
14 

20,27 
26 
27 
29 
28 
29 
27 
27 
25 
27 
18 
28 
28 
29 
24 

30, 43 
29 
29 
18 
25 
29 
29 
59 
26 
25 
25 
29 
30 
28 
28 
25 
26 
63 
1 

40 
64 
83 
25 
31 
78 
45 
41 
2 
41 
20 
44 
4, 35 

28 

4 

37 

36 

37,38 
39 

44 

54 


INDEX  TO  GLASS. 


Page. 

Sieaens'  tempered  glass,  process  of  manufacture  of 

Silica  in  glass,  proportion  of 

Siliceous  rocks,  use  of  in  manufacture  of  glass 24 

Size  of  Austrian  glass  pots 41 

Size  of  Bohemian  glass  pots 41,44 

Size  of  bottle-glass  pots 41 

Size  of  colored-glass  pots 41 

Size  of  English  pots 41,44 

Size  of  flint-glass  pots 41 

Size  of  French  pots ."- 41,44 

Size  of  furnaces 36 

Size  of  German  glass  pots. 41 

Size  of  melting-pots  for  manufacture  of  plate-glass 45 

Size  of  plate-glass  made  at  Saint-Gobain  works 73 

Size  of  plate- glass  pots  41 

Size  of  pots,  effect  of,  on  time  of  melting 44 

Size  of  pots  in  different  countries 41 

Slag,  blast-furnace,  a  glass  (note) 20 

Slag  glass,  color  of 55 

Slag  glass  frem  blast  furnaces 54 

Slag  glass,  manufacture  of 55 

Smoothing-macliines  in  plate-glass  factories,  number  of 4 

Smoothing  plate-glass 46 

Soda,  ancient,  impure - 31 

Soda-ash,  Lablanc's  discovery  of 31 

Soda-ash,  manufacture  of,  in  the  United  States 32 

Soda-ash  used,  amount  of - 18 

Soda,  Egyptian,  where  procured 30 

Soda  from  ashes  of  sea-plants 31 

Soda  glass,  ancient  glass  a 30 

Soda,  imports  of 31 

Soda,  nitrate  of,  use  of..-. 32 

Soda,  production  of 31 

Soda,  sources  of  supply  of,  for  ancient  glass  houses 30 

Soda,  Spanish,  of  Alicant 31 

Soda  window-glass,  efl'ect  of  dampness  on 30 

Soluble  glass,  definition  of .! 21 

Soluble  glass,  uses  of 21 

Solvay  process  for  making  soda 31 

Soundness  of  pots,  how  tested 41 

Sources  of  supply  of  Austrian  sand 28 

Sources  of  supply  of  Belgian  sand 27 

Sources  of  supply  of  English  sand 26 

Sources  of  supply  of  German  sand 27 

Sources  of  supply  of  lime 33 

Sources  of  supply  of  potash,  early 32 

Sources  of  supply  of  sand  for  Austrian  glass  houses 28 

Sources  of  supply  of  sand  for  English  glass  houses 27 

Sources  of  supply  of  sand  for  Pittsburgh  glass  houses 29 

Sources  of  supply  of  sand  for  Swedish  glass  houses 28 

Sources  of  supply  of  sand  for  Wheeling  glass  houses 29 

Sources  of  supply  of  soda 31 

Sources  of  supply  of  soda  for  ancient  glass  houses 30 

Sources  of  supply  of  Swedish  sand 28 

Spain,  early  glass  works  in 63 

Spain,  glass-making  in 70 

Spain,  modern  glass  manufacture  in 66,67 

Spain,  present  condition  of  glass-making  in 77 

Spain,  statistics  of  glass  factories  in 77 

Spanish  barilla 31 

Spanish  glass,  character  of  modern 67 

Spanish  soda  of  Alicant 31 

Special  privileges  given  to  glass-makers 63 

Specialties,  England's,  in  glass-making 69 

Specialties,  France's,  in  glass-making 69 

Specialty,  Austria-Hungary's,  in  glass-making 70 

Specialty,  Belgium's,  in  glass-making 69 

Specialty,  Germany's,  in  glass-making 70 

Specific  gravity  of  glass 21 

Specimens  of  Roman  glass  found  in  many  countries 62 

Spun  glass,  definition  of 21 

Stained  glass,  definition  of 1 20 


Page. 

Stained  glass,  French 09- 

Stained  glass,  statistics  of,  not  included  in  report 1 

State  bounty  in  Massachusetts  for  glass-making 89 

State  of  the  art  in  ancient  Egypt 59 

States,  relative  productive  rank  of  the 9 

Statistics  for  1870 2 

Statistics  for  1880,  summary  of — 1 

Statistics  of  all  the  glass  works  of  the  United  States,  consoli- 
dated, by  states 15 

Statistics  of  all  the  glass  works  of  the  United  States,  by  states 

and  counties 15, 16, 17 

Statistics  of  glass  factories  in  Spain 77 

Statistics  of  glass-making  in  Austria-Hungary 75 

Statistics  of  glass-making  in  Belgium 74 

Statistics  of  glass-making  in  Connecticut  at  various  dates. . .  95 

Statistics  of  glass-making  in  Great  Britain 72 

Statistics  of  glass-making  in  Holland 77 

Statistics  of  glass-making  in  Italy 76 

Statistics  of  glass-making  in  New  Jersey  at  various  dates % 

Statistics  of  glass-making  in  Norway 77 

Statistics  of  glass-making  in  Pittsburgh  for  a  series  of  years.  87, 88 

Statistics  of  glass-making  in  Russia 76 

Statistics  of  glass-making  in  Sweden 76 

Statistics  of  glass-making  in  Venice 76 

Statistics  of  idle  and  building  glass  works ..2, 3, 13, 14 

Steam-engines  in  glass  factories,  number  of 4,5 

Steigel's,  Baron,  glass  works,  at  Lancaster 80 

Stirring  of  the  materials,  how  accomplished 43 

Store-pay 8,9 

Stonrbridge  pot-clay,  analyses  of 40 

Strass 21 

Strass,  nse  of,  in  imitations  of  precious  stones 46 

Straw  and  hay  used,  amount  of 18 

!  Strength,  crushing,  of  glass 21,22 

Strength,  tensile,  of  glass 21,22 

i  Striae  in  glass,  cause  of 45 

Strings  in  glass,  cause  of 45 

Sulphate  glass 31 

Summary  of  statistics  for  1880 1 

Superiority  of  the  sand  of  the  United  States 26 

Sweden,  glass-making  in 70 

Sweden,  present  condition  of  manufacture  of  glass  in 76 

Sweden,  statistics  of  glass  manufacture  in 76 

Swedish  glass  houses,  sources  of  supply  of  sand  for 28 

Swedish  sand,  sources  of  supply  of 28 

Syria,  rochette  of. 31 

T. 

Tank  furnace  for  window-glass,  illustration  of  Siemens' 39 

Tank  furnaces,  general  description  of. 39 

Tank  furnace,  Siemens' 37, 38 

Tank  furnaces,  number  of 4 

Tears  in  glass,  cause  of 45 

Tear-sown  bottles 61 

Teaser,  duties  of 43 

Tempered  glass 52 

Tempered  glass,  defects  of 53 

Tempered  glass,  definition  of 21 

Tempered  glass,  Siemens,  cost  of 54 

Tempered  glass,  Siemens,  tests  of 54 

Tempered  glass,  Siemens,  uses  of 54 

Temple,  New  Hampshire,  glass-making  in 91 

Tensile  strength  of  glass 21,22 

Tension  of  glass 21 

Tests  of  sand 25 

Theophilus'  account  of  blown  window-glass 57 

Thevart's  invention  of  plate-glass 56 

Thickness  of  plate  glass 46 

Thin  pots,  nse  of,  in  France 44 

Thin  sheet  glass  for  looking-glass  manufacture  in  Austria 44 

Threads  in  glass,  cause  of 45 

Time  occupied  in  melting 43 

1151 


114 


INDEX  TO  GLASS. 


Page- 
Time  of  cooling 44 

Time  of  fining  in  English  houses 44 

Time  of  fining  in  lime-glasshouses 44 

Time  of  fining  in  the  glass  houses  of  the  United  States 44 

Time  of  melting  crown-glass  in  English  houses 44 

Time  of  molting  depends  on  furnace,'materials,  and  sizeof  pots.  43 

Time  of  melting,  effect  of  proportion  of  lead  on 44 

Time  of  melting,  effect  of  proportion  of  sand  on 44 

Time  of  melting,  effect  of  size  of  pots  on 44 

Tin  amalgam  for  mirrors  a  German  invention 63 

Tomlinsou's  classification  of  glass  (note) 20 

Tools  used  in  the  manufacture  of  flint-glass 

Toughened  glass 

Toughened  glass,  definition  of 

Townsend's  revenue  scheme,  effect  of,  on  glass-making 

Transmittal,  letter  of --- 

Transparent  glass,  earliest  specimen  of 61 

Tribute  on  glass,  ordinance  of  Aurelian  regarding 59 

Truck  payment 

Tumblers,  number  made 

Tumbler,  the  first,  pressed 58 

V. 

United  States,  first  glass  house  in  the 77 

United  States,  glass  sands  of  the,  analyses  of  the 30 

United  States,  history  of  glass-making  in 77-79 

United  States,  history  of  the  manufacture  of  plate-glass  in  the.  98, 99 

United  States,  imports  of  glass  into  the 99-101 

United  States,  results  of  attempts  to  manufacture  plate-glass 

in  the 99 

United  States,  salt-cake  first  used  in  the 31 

United  States,  second  attempt  at  glass-making  in  the 78 

United  States,  superiority  of  sand  of 26 

United  States,  time  of  fining  in  the  glass  houses  of 44 

United  States,  time  of  melting  in  the  glass  houses  of 44 

Ure's  definition  of  glass  (note) 19 

Ure's  classification  of  glass  (note) 20 

Use  of  flint  in  manufacture  of  glass 24 

Use  of  glass  in  ancient  Rome 62 

Use  of  quartz  in  manufacture  of  glass 24 

Use  of  window-glass  by  the  ancients,  extent  of 56 

Uses  of  soluble  glass 21 

Uses  of  water  glass 21 

V. 

Varec  of  Bretagne 31 

Variability  of  composition 19 

Varieties  of  Egyptian  glass 60 

Variety  of  early  glass 34 

Variety  of  glass  found  in  tombs  at  Poitiers 63 

Variety  of  Roman  glass 62 

Vases  de  verre,  manufacture  of,  in  France 66 

Vehicles  used  in  glass  works 5 

Venetian  glass 70 

.Venetian  glass-making,  early ,. 65 

Venetian  glass-making,  revival  of .    65 

Venetian  glass  manufacture 76 

Venice,  glass-bead  manufacture  in 70 

Venice,  influence  of,  on  modern  glass-making 64 

Venice,  influence  of,  on  the  manufacture  of  English  glass 68 

Venice,  modern  glass-making  dates  from 64 

Vermont,  history  of  glass-making  in 97 

Virginia,  Captain  Norton  sent  to,  to  make  glass^ -v.  78 

Virginia,  history  of  glass-making  in 77, 78 

Virginia,  manufacture  of  beads  in 78 

w. 

Wages,  annual  settlement  of 

Wages  paid 6 

Wages,  range  of 6,7 

Wagons  in  glass  factories,  number  of 4,5 

Washing  sand,  method  of,  to  remove  impurities  (note) 24 

Washington,  presentation  of  flint  goblets  to,  by  Mr.  Amelung  95 

•   Water  glass  (note) 20 

Water  glass,  definition  of 21 

1152 


Page. 

Water  glass,  uses  of 21 

Watson,  Elkanah,  on  glass-making  in  Albany 93 

Waves  in  glass 45 

Wearing  fabrics,  glass,  manufacture  of,  in  Austria-Hungary .  75 

Weather,  influence  of,  on  composition  of  glass 41 

Weather,  influence  of,  on  melting  glass 41 

Webb,  Thomas,  &  Sou,  quoted  on  American  sand  .* 26 

Wellsburg,  West  Virginia,  manufacture  of  glass  at 78 

West  Virginia,  history  of  glass-making  in 78, 79 

Wheeling,  gas  furnaces  at 79 

Wheeling  glass  houses,  sources  of  supply  of  sand  for 29 

Wheeling,  West  Virginia,  history  of  glass-making  at 78,79 

White  glass,  French,  character  of 69 

Winckelman's  views  on  the  antiquity  of  window-glass 5G 

Window-glass,  analyses  of 23 

Window-glass,  ancient,  character  of 56 

Window-glass,  average  value  per  box  of 10 

Window-glass,  Belgian 69 

Window-glass,  Belgian,  importation  of,  into  the  United  States  69 

Window-glass  blowing 50 

Window-glass,  bjown,  early  manufacture  of 57 

Window-glass,  blown,  Theophilus'  account  of 57 

Window-glass,  capital  invested  in 3 

Wiudo  w-glass,  classification  of,  chemical 20 

Window-glass,  composition  of 19 

Window-glass,  consolidated  statistics  of,  production,  etc 12 

Window-glass,  constituents  of 42 

Window-glass  cylinders,  how  opened 50 

Window-glass,  decoration  of,  in  France 73 

Window-glass,  defects  of 50 

Window-glass  discovered  at  Pompeii 56 

Window-glass,  English,  constituents  of 42 

Window-glass,  extent  of  use  of,  by  the  ancients 56 

Window-glass  factories,  definition  of. 1 

Window-glass  found  at  Pompeii,  analysis  of 56 

Window-glass,  French,  constituents  of., 42 

Window-glass  in  Germany,  early  manufacture  of 63 

Window-glass  known  to  the  ancients 56 

Window-glass,  largest  size  of,  made 51 

Window-glass  manufacture  in  Europe 71 

Window-glass,  method  of  manufacture  of 50 

Window-glass,  method  of  manufacture  of  ancient 56 

Window-glass,  number  of  boxes  made 10 

Window-glass,  Pittsburgh,  constituents  of 42 

Window-glass,  price  of,  in  1797 '       83 

Window-glass,  product  of,  value  of - 9, 10 

Window-glass,  proportion  of  materials  used  in  the  manufac- 
ture of 42 

Window-glass,  relative  productive  rank  of  the  states  in 9 

Window-glass,  Siemens' tank  furnaces  for,  illustration  of...  39 

Window-glass,  size  of 20, 51 

Window-glass,  time  of  melting  in  English  houses 44 

Window-glass  used  in  Great  Britain  in  the  Roman  period  ...  56 

Window-glass,  early  use  of 56 

Window-glass  works,  early,  in  England 56 

Window-glass  works,  furnaces  in,  number  of 3 

Window-glass  works  in  the  United  States  in  1787 83 

Window-glass  works,  pots  in,  number  of 3 

Women,  number  of,  in  glass  factories 6 

Women,  work  of,  in  glass  factories 6 

Wood  ashes,  potash  made  from 32 

Wood  furnaces,  number  of 4 

Wood  used,  amount  of 18 

Work.of  children  in  glass  factories 5 

Work  of  women  in  glass  factories 5 

Work  of  youths  in  glass  factories 5 

Works  building  in  census  year,  statistics  of 3,13,14 

Works  i  die  in  census  year,  statistics  of 2,13, 14 


V. 


Youths,  number  of,  in  glass  factories 
Youths,  work  of,  in  glass  factories . . . , 


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